The snows are whirling (Frederic James)

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• (Posted 2023-11-02)  CPDL #76878:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-02).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 403 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The snows are whirling
Composer: Frederic James
Lyricist: Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1892 J. Curwen & Sons
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

The snows are whirling, thick and fast,
The drifts assail my doorway;
I doubt me if a wilder mast
Blows o’er the hills of Norway.
But sit thee down, my olden friend;
We twain mill mock the weather;
And, while the fearful winds contend,
We’ll have a night together.

Oh, many a year and many a storm
We twain have mocked at lightly;
And though our hearts tonight are warm
Our heads are powdered whitely.
And snows have drifted o’er our souls,
To fall on wintry heather,
And hide from us the grassy knolls
Where rest our loves together.

Stir up the fire! We’ll talk of love—
Of love, old friend, and sorrow;
For life, like rainbow arched above,
Its light through tears must borrow.
We’ll talk of lips that clung to ours,
Though ours are now like leather;
We’ll talk of girls, we’ll talk of flowers,
That now are dust together.

Oh! wintry heart ’tis throbbing low—
O! wintry storm! ’tis pelting;
What boots it that we warm our snow?
It turns to tears in melting.
But better tears than ice, old friend,
So tears we’ll shed together;
And o’er our hearts a rainbow bend
To light the stormy weather.