Burleigh, Five Songs of Laurence Hope

Soprano Holly Gash, Piano Clipper Erickson, Temple University February 2022. 1. Worth While (From "Stars of the Desert") I asked my desolate shipwrecked soul Would'st thou rather never have met The one whom thou lovedst beyond control And whom thou adorest yet? Back from the senses, the heart, the brain, Came the answer swiftly thrown, "What matter the price?" We would pay it again, We have had, we have loved, we have known!" 2. The Jungle Flower (From "Last Poems") Thou art one of the jungle flowers, strange and fierce and fair, Palest amber, perfect lines, and scented with champa flower. Lie back and frame thy face in the gloom of thy loosened hair; Sweet thou art and loved-ay, loved-for an hour. But thought flies far, ah, far, to another breast, Whose whiteness breaks to the rose of a twin pink flower, Where wind the azure veins that my lips caressed When Fate was gentle to me for a too-brief hour. 3. Kashmiri Song (From "India's Love Lyrics") Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar, Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell? Whom do you lead on Rapture's roadway, far, Before you agonise them in farewell? Oh, pale dispensers of my Joys and Pains, Holding the doors of Heaven and Hell, How the hot blood rushed wildly through the veins Beneath your touch, until you waved farewell. Pale hands, pink tipped, like Lotus buds that float On those cool waters where we used to dwell, I would have rather felt you round my throat, Crushing out life, than waving me farewell! 4. Among the Fuchsias (From "Stars of the Desert") Call me not to a secret place When daylight dies away, Tempt me not with thine eager face And words thou shouldst not say. Entice me not with a child of thine, Ah, God, if such might be, For surely a man is half divine Who adds another link to the line Whose last link none may see. Call me not to the Lotus lake That drooping fuchsias hide, What if my latent youth awake And will not be denied? Ah, tempt me not for I am not strong (Thy mouth is a budded kiss) My days are empty, my nights are long. Ah, why is a thing so sweet so wrong As thy temptation is? 5. Till I Wake (From "India's Love Lyrics") When I am dying, lean over me tenderly, softly, Stoop, as the yellow roses droop in the wind from the South. So I may, when I wake, if there be an awakening, Keep, what lulled me to sleep, the touch of your lips on my mouth.