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gustav holst - the mystic trumpeter, op. 18 lyrics

hark! some wild trumpeter ++ some strange musician
hovering unseen in air, vibrates capricious tunes to+night

i hear thee, trumpeter ++ listening, alert, i catch thy notes
now pouring, whirling like a tempest round me
now low, subdued ++ now in the distance lost

blow, trumpeter, free and clear ++ i follow thee
while at thy liquid prelude, glad, serene
the fretting world, the streets, the noisy hours of day, withdraw;
a holy calm descends, like dew, upon me
i walk, in cool refreshing night, the walks of paradise
i scent the grass, the moist air, and the roses;
thy song expands my numb’d, imbonded spirit ++ thou freest, launchest me
floating and basking upon heaven’s lake

blow again, trumpeter! and for thy theme
take now the enclosing theme of all ++ the solvent and the setting;
love, that is pulse of all ++ the sustenace and the pang;
the heart of man and woman all for love;
no other theme but love ++ knitting, enclosing, all+diffusing love

o, how the immortal phantoms crowd around me!
i see the vast alembic ever working ++ i see and know the flames that heat the world;
the glow, the blush, the beating hearts of lovers
so blissful happy some ++ and some so silent, dark, and nigh to death:
love, that is all the earth to lovers ++ love, that mocks time and sp+ce;
love, that is day and night ++ love, that is sun and moon and stars;
love, that is crimson, sumptuous, sick with perfume;
no other words, but words of love ++ no other thought but love
blow again, trumpeter ++ conjure war’s wild alarums
swift to thy spell, a shuddering hum like distant thunder rolls;
lo! where the arm’d men hasten ++ lo! mid the clouds of dust, the glint of bayonets;
i see the grime+faced cannoniers ++ i mark the rosy flash amid the smoke ++
i hear the cracking of the guns:

o trumpeter! methinks i am myself the instrument thou playest!
thou melt’st my heart, my brain ++ thou movest, drawest, changest them, at will:
and now thy sullen notes send darkness through me;
thou takest away all cheering light ++ all hope:
utter defeat upon me weighs ++ all lost! the foe victorious!
(yet ‘mid the ruins pride colossal stands, unshaken to the last;
endurance, resolution, to the last.)

now, trumpeter, for thy close
vouchsafe a higher strain than any yet;
sing to my soul ++ renew its languishing faith and hope;
rouse up my slow belief ++ give me some vision of the future;
give me, for once, its prophecy and joy

o glad, exulting, culminating song!
a vigor more than earth’s is in thy notes!
marches of victory ++ man disenthrall’d ++ the conqueror at last!
hymns to the universal god, from universal man ++ all joy!
a reborn race appears ++ a perfect world, all joy!
women and men, in wisdom, innocence and health ++ all joy!
riotous, laughing bacch+n+ls, fill’d with joy!
war, sorrow, suffering gone ++ the rank earth purged ++ nothing but joy left!
the ocean fill’d with joy ++ the atmosphere all joy!
joy! joy! in freedom, worship, love! joy in the ecstacy of life!
enough to merely be! enough to breathe!
joy! joy! all over joy!

- gustav holst lyrics

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