Texts by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674) and Richard Wilbur, whose version of The Pelican
is from a medieval Bestiary by Phillipe de Thaun.
George Bragg - Conductor Founder - Director of The Texas Boys Choir of Fort Worth, Texas
I
THE CAROL OF THE ROSE
(To his Saviour, a child; a present, by a child.)
Go pretty child, and bear this flower
Unto thy little Saviour;
And tell him, by that bud now blown,
He is the Rose of Sharon known:
When thou hast said so, stick it there
Upon his bib and stomacher:
And tell him (for good handsell too)
That thou hast brought a whistle new,
Made of a clean and oaten reed,
To charm his cries (at time of need):
Tell him, for coral, thou hast none,
But if thou hadst, he should have one;
But poor thou art, and known to be
Even as moniless as he.
Lastly, if thou canst win a kiss
From those mellifluous lips of his,
Then never take a second one
To spoil the first impression.
II
THE PELICAN
PELLICANUS is the word For a certain breed of bird Who truly is a crane; Egypt is his domain. There are two kinds thereof; Near to the Nile they live; One of them dwells in the flood, The fishes are his food; The other lives in the isles On lizards, crocodiles, Serpents, and stinking creatures, And beasts of evil nature. In Greek his title was Onocrotalos, Which is congium rostrum, said In the Latin tongue instead, Or long-beak in our own. Of this bird it is known That when he comes to his young, They being grown and strong, And does them kindly things, And covers them with his wings, The little birds begin Fiercely to peck at him; They tear at him and try To blind their father's eye. He falls upon them then And slays them with great pain, Then goes away for a spell, Leaving them where they fell.
On the third day he returns, And thereupon he mourns, Feeling so strong a woe To see the small birds so That he strikes his breast with his beak Until the blood shall leak. And when the coursing blood Spatters his lifeless brood, Such virtue does it have That once again they live.
KNOW that this pelican Signifies Mary's Son; The little birds are men Restored to life again From death, by that dear blood Shed for us by our God. Now learn one meaning more, Revealed by holy lore: Know why the small birds try To peck their father's eye, Who turns on them in wrath And puts them all to death. Men who deny the light Would blind God's blazing sight, But on such people all His punishment will fall. This is the meaning I find; Now bear it well in mind.
III
THE PLACE OF THE BLEST
In this world (the Isle of Dreams) While we sit by sorrow's streams, Tears and terrors are our themes Reciting:
But when once from hence we fly, More and more approaching nigh Unto young eternity Uniting:
In that whiter island, where Things are evermore sincere; Candor here, and lustre there Delighting:
There no monstrous fancies shall Out of hell an horror call, To create (or cause at all) Affrighting.
There in calm and cooling sleep We our eyes shall never steep; But eternal watch shall keep, Attending.
Pleasures, such as shall pursue Me immortaliz'd, and you; And fresh joys as never to Have ending.
IV
Alleluia. Amen.
Recorded at the Four Arts Club in Sherman, Texas, Sunday afternoon, March 30, 1968.
