Name: Breathe, My Lute
Duration: P00H01M42S
Description: Setting of a poem written by a teenage A.E. Housman, apparently as a song to be sung by Lady Jane Grey the night before her execution. There was no known melody for it, so I wrote one.

Breathe, My Lute

from So Sound You Sleep (More Tears of Morning) by David A. Harley

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about

Setting of a poem written by a teenage A.E. Housman, apparently as a song to be sung by Lady Jane Grey the night before her execution. There was no known melody for it, so I wrote one.

lyrics

Breathe, my lute, beneath my fingers
One regretful breath,
One lament for life that lingers
Round the doors of death.
For the frost has killed the rose,
And our summer dies in snows,
And our morning once for all
Gathers to the evenfall.

Hush, my lute, return to sleeping,
Sing no songs again.
For the reaper stays his reaping
On the darkened plain;
And the day has drained its cup,
And the twilight cometh up;
Song and sorrow all that are
Slumber at the even-star.

credits

from So Sound You Sleep (More Tears of Morning), released February 8, 2023
Vocals, guitar and tune by David A. Harley. Words by A.E. Housman.

license

about

David A. Harley England, UK

David Harley is a former professional musician, administrator, IT security editor, author and researcher, and former much else that is even less impressive. He now lives in Cornwall. More info at whealalice.com