Songs
At the railway station, Upway - 'The convict and the boy with the violin'
by Benjamin Britten From Winter Words (1953) Op. 52
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Text
At the railway station, Upway - 'The convict and the boy with the violin'
English source:
Thomas Hardy
'There is not much that I can do,
For I’ve no money that’s quite my own!'
Spoke up the pitying child—
A little boy with a violin
At the station before the train came in—
'But I can play my fiddle to you,
And a nice one ‘tis, and good in tone!'
The man in the handcuffs smiled;
The constable looked, and he smiled, too,
As the fiddle began to twang;
And the man in the handcuffs
Suddenly sang
With grimful glee:
'This life so free
Is the thing for me!'
And the constable smiled, and said no word,
As if unconscious of what he heard;
And so they went on till the train came in—
The convict, and boy with the violin.
For I’ve no money that’s quite my own!'
Spoke up the pitying child—
A little boy with a violin
At the station before the train came in—
'But I can play my fiddle to you,
And a nice one ‘tis, and good in tone!'
The man in the handcuffs smiled;
The constable looked, and he smiled, too,
As the fiddle began to twang;
And the man in the handcuffs
Suddenly sang
With grimful glee:
'This life so free
Is the thing for me!'
And the constable smiled, and said no word,
As if unconscious of what he heard;
And so they went on till the train came in—
The convict, and boy with the violin.
Composer
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music,…
Poet
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly…