Three Tennyson Songs

I. O Swallow, Swallow

Tekst: Alfred, Lord Tennyson

O Swallow, Swallow, flying, flying South,
Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves,
And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee.

 

O tell her, Swallow, thou that knowest each,
That bright and fierce and fickle is the South,
And dark and true and tender is the North.

 

O Swallow, Swallow, if I could follow, and light
Upon her lattice, I would pipe and trill,
And cheep and twitter twenty million loves.

 

O were I thou that she might take me in,
And lay me on her bosom, and her heart
Would rock the snowy cradle till I died.

 

Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with love,
Delaying as the tender ash delays
To clothe herself, when all the woods are green?

 

O tell her, Swallow, that thy brood is flown:
Say to her, I do but wanton in the South,
But in the North long since my nest is made.

 

O tell her, brief is life but love is long,
And brief the sun of summer in the North,
And brief the moon of beauty in the South.

 

O Swallow, flying from the golden woods,
Fly to her, and pipe and woo her, and make her mine,
And tell her, tell her, that I follow thee.

 

xx

O Zwaluw, Zwaluw

xx

O Zwaluw, Zwaluw, vliegend naar het Zuiden,
vlieg naar haar en strijk neer op haar vergulde dakrand,
en zeg haar, zeg haar wat ik je zeg.

 

O zeg haar, Zwaluw, jij die beiden kent,
dat het Zuiden helder en vurig en grillig is ,
en het Noorden donker en trouw en teder.

 

O Zwaluw, Zwaluw, als ik kon volgen en terecht
zou komen op haar hek zou ik fluiten en kwinkeleren,
en twintig miljoen liefdesgroetjes kwetteren en kwelen .

 

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