The shadow of Life (Walter Galpin Alcock)

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• (Posted 2023-09-13)  CPDL #75376:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-09-13).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 771 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The shadow of Life
Composer: Walter Galpin Alcock
Lyricist: Alfred Cecil Calmour
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1909 Novello and Co.
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

Fleeting as light, as the pearly light, that comes at the fall of day,
Or the first faint flush of a summer’s dawn, or the dainty blossoms in May
That bud and bloom, and wither and die, ere the swallows have journey’d away.
So is our life, the most beautiful life, with its anguish, its sorrows and fears,
With its springtide of hope, brief summer of love, and desolate winter of tears.

Phantom of clouds, a squadron of clouds, that steal o’er the sleeping land,
Or the storm-tossed waves, that beat on the cliff, and whiten the treacherous sand,
That tumble and roar, as they mock at the dead, the wreck of a gallant band,
So is our life, the most beautiful life, with its anguish, its sorrows and fears,
With its springtide of hope, brief summer of love, and desolate winter of tears.

Trackless as stars, pale, luminous stars, that shoot through the boundless sky,
Or the old-world song, that floats on the wind, and passes away with a sigh,
That touches the chord of a broken heart, and quickens a thought that would die,
So is our life, the most beautiful life, with its anguish, its sorrows and fears,
With its springtide of hope, brief summer of love, and desolate winter of tears.