by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
On the downs
Language: English
Up on the downs the red-eyed kestrels hover, Eyeing the grass, The field-mouse flits like a shadow into cover As their shadows pass. Men are burning the gorse on the down's shoulder; A drift of smoke Glitters with fire and hangs, and the skies smoulder, And the lungs choke. Once the tribe did thus on the downs, on these downs burning Men in the frame, Crying to the gods of the downs till their brains were turning And the gods came. And today on the downs, in the wind, the hawks, the grasses, In blood and air, Something passes me and cries as it passes, On the chalk downland bare.
Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "On the downs", 1919, published 1959 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Peter Palmer
This text was added to the website: 2012-05-25
Line count: 16
Word count: 110