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RECORDINGS
Listen to 'Lethe' here.
Text
Lethe
English source:
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Ah, drink again
This river that is the taker-away of pain
And the giver-back of beauty!
In these cool waves
What can be lost?
Only the sorry cost
Of the lovely thing, ah, never the thing itself!
The level flood that laves The hot brow
And the stiff shoulder
Is at our temples now
Gone is the fever
But not into the river;
Melted the frozen pride
But the tranquil tide
Runs never the warmer for this
Never the colder
Immerse the dream
Drench the kiss
Dip the song in the stream
This river that is the taker-away of pain
And the giver-back of beauty!
In these cool waves
What can be lost?
Only the sorry cost
Of the lovely thing, ah, never the thing itself!
The level flood that laves The hot brow
And the stiff shoulder
Is at our temples now
Gone is the fever
But not into the river;
Melted the frozen pride
But the tranquil tide
Runs never the warmer for this
Never the colder
Immerse the dream
Drench the kiss
Dip the song in the stream
Composer
Rebecca Clarke
Anglo-American composer Rebecca Clarke was born in 1886 in Harrow, London. Classified by Gramophone as ‘one of the very best of her time’, Clarke is best known for her instrumental works - most notably her 1919 Viola Sonata. Her vocal music is…
