Home and the Heart
Prelude:
The Saints' Delight
arr. Dale Wood
Chapter 1:
Siúil a Rúin
arr. Michael McGlynn
I wish I were on yonder hill
’Tis there I’d sit and cry my fill
And every tear would turn a mill.
I wish I sat on my true love’s knee
Many a fond story he told to me
He told me things that ne’er shall be
His hair was black, his eye was blue
His arm was strong, his word was true
I wish in my heart I was with you
I’ll dye my petticoat, I’ll dye it red
And ‘round the world I’ll bey my bread
’Til I find my love alive or dead
Go, go, go my love
Go quietly and go peacefully
Go to the door and fly with me
Geantraí
arr. Michael McGlynn
We will throw her up and up
We will throw her up easily
Hopefully she will not explode
We will throw her up and up
We will throw the child up
And she’ll come down tomorrow
We will throw her up and up
We will throw her up easily
Hopefully she will not explode
She will dance and dance
She will dance with pleasure
Myself and her together
Sleepsong
arr. Desmond Earley
Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
Bless you with love for the road that you go
May you sail far to the far fields of fortune
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet
And may you need never to banish misfortune
May you find kindness in all that you meet
May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
May you bring love and may you bring happiness
Be loved in return to the end of your days
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay
May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
Chapter 2:
And So It Goes
Billy Joel
In every heart there is a room
A sanctuary safe and strong
To heal the wounds from lovers past
Until a new one comes along
I spoke to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
My silence is my self defense
And every time I've held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you soon I suppose
But if my silence made you leave
Then that would be my worst mistake
So I will share this room with you
And you can have this heart to break
And this is why my eyes are closed
It's just as well for all I've seen
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows
So I would choose to be with you
That's if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows
Ancient Prairie
Eriks Esenvalds
The prairie overflows with grass’s rolling billows
As the year comes and goes, it withers and grows.
The wild fire can never burn it out of view,
When the vernal breeze arises, it appears anew.
Its balmy odors drifts across the path time-worn,
Its luster of green extends to the town forlorn.
Again as I see my friend along the road depart,
I feel the grass is deep in sorrow as my heart.
Fern Hill
John Corigliano
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and
cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was
air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the
nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking
warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would
take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea
– Intermission –
Chapter 3:
Mo Ghile Mear
arr. Desmond Earley
My dashing darling is my hero
My dashing darling is my Caesar
I have had neither sleep nor good fortune
Since my dashing darling went far away
I am perpetually worried every day
Wailing heavily and shedding tears
Since my lively boy was released from me
And there is no word of him, alas
The pleasure of the cheerful cuckoo at noon is gone
The affable nobility are not bothered with sport
The learned and the cultured are worried and sad
Since the lively lad was taken from me
He is like Young Aonghus
Like Lughaidh Mac Chéin of the great blows
Like Cú Raoi, great son of Dáire of the gold
Leader of Éire strong in pursuit
Like Conall Cearnach who breached defences
Like worthy fair haired Feargas Mac Róigh
Like Conchubhar venerable son of Nás of the tradition
The pleasant chieftain of the musical [Fenian] Branc
My dashing darling is my hero
My dashing darling is my Caesar
I have had neither sleep nor good fortune
Since my dashing darling went far away
In Heaven, Hereafter
Thomas LaVoy
1. Human!
Human! Do understand how to raise up sick hens to health.
God requires human to take care of poor dumb creatures,
And be kind to them.
Now, do understand, I will tell you exact:
2. Consider Deal Little Hens
If a hen has a bag of stones in her,
Hanging down under her,
Give her the best of cake to eat,
And she will lay you eggs.
But if you do not give her the best of cake to eat,
She will certainly die.
I cure them so.
It is your duty to take good care and not let anything
hurt your hens, consider dear little hens.
If hens taken lame in the afternoon,
Rub on mutton tallow.
Good flour bread is splendid,
To make them lay their eggs.
But you must not give them salt or meat to eat,
Or they will surely die.
I cure them so.
If a hen has froth in her throat and crop,
Measure out a teaspoon of Epsom salts,
Boil it with black pepper,
It will cure this disease;
But if she makes a screaming noise with it, and is distressed with it,
Then a sore growing in her, then no cure.
3. The Path of Sorrow
O may our sympathizing hearts,
In generous pleasures know,
Kindly to share in others’ joy,
And weep for others’ woe.
The path of sorrow,
And that path alone,
Leads to the land
Where sorrows are unknown.
4. Tweedle, Tedel, Bebbee, Pinky
When poor little heart Pinky, was about six weeks old,
She was taken with the chicken distemper,
Chickens died off all over this island.
When I was raising poor dear in my lap,
And it rained on the window,
She would look at the rain,
Put her head under my cape.
And when she was out,
If I only spoke her name,
She would run to me,
Come back to me.
Sweet little dear,
Down in her silent grave,
Turning to dust.
Poor little cunning dear,
My heart is broken for her.
She and I loved each other so well;
She has been taken from the evil to come.
5. Ada Queetie
Poor little Ada Queetie,
She was my own heart within me.
Her heart was full of love,
More than common love.
Poor little heart…
When I would dream distressing dreams,
She would come and speak to me;
As long as she was able,
She would comfort me.
Poor little heart…
I made fire days and nights,
To keep poor Ada Queetie warm.
The day that she was taken,
She opened her eyes,
Looked up into my face for the last time.
O heart melting…
Poor little heart…
6. Beauty Linna
Beauty Linna,
She was my dear and nearest friend,
To love and pity me, and to believe I was sick,
She would stand close to me; she would not leave me.
She has consumed, in the coffin underground,
My dear beloved little friend -
O heart rending!
She died in my arms;
No more to feel for me, no more to love me.
Bloody water pouring out her mouth,
My hands around her by the fire;
I did everything that could be done.
I did the best that I could do.
She has been taken to her long home.
7. To God I Cried
Haste, sovereign Mercy, and transform
Their cruelty to love;
Soften the tiger to a lamb,
The vulture to a dove and hen.
Soon my turn will come,
And I must follow on,
To that blest shore,
Where no trouble distress me no more.
My eye is fix’d on Thee, my God,
I rest my hope on thee alone.
The meek that lie despised in dust,
Salvation shall adorn.
To God I cried when troubles rose,
He heard me, subdued my foes.
He did my rising fears control,
And strength diffused through all my soul.
8. Till All Things Have Their End
Them that knew me once,
Know - me - no - more,
Till all things have their end,
And they, and I, do meet in heaven.
In heaven, hereafter. Amen.