The Iron Horse (William Webster Pearson)

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• (Posted 2023-11-27)  CPDL #77630:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-27).   Score information: Letter, 28 pages, 1.2 MB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The Iron Horse
Composer: William Webster Pearson
Lyricist: James Lewton-Brain
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: Piano

First published: 1881 Novello, Ewer, and Co.
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

Where hammers loud clang and fires glow white,
The fitters ply their trade;
Of iron, and steel, and metal bright
His giant limbs are made.
A thousand thralls have hewn his path,
Through mountain, vale, and town;
A thousand thralls dig out his food,
A hundred fathoms down.
As swift as Death, as sure as Fate,
He rushes, so wild and free,
For wind or tide he ne’er doth wait,
Past the sleeping hamlet,
Under sheltering trees,
Silvered by the moonlight,
Waving in the breeze;
Or through the yellow cornfields,
Glowing in the sun.
Over spreading rivers
As they seaward run.
He rushes wild and free;
For wind or tide he ne’er doth wait.
And on flies this steed that naught can tire,
With piercing, thrilling scream;
His heart is filled with raging fire,
His veins with potent steam.
See, far behind his white breath floats,
Like beard of hoary sage;
His red eyes glare thro’ midnight air,
Like tiger’s, mad with rage.
And now they cram his fiery maw,
With black and dusty coal,
He snorts and pants, and onward flies,
Until he gains the goal.
As swift as Death, as sure as Fate,
He rushes wild and free;
For wind or tide he ne’er doth wait,
For weather, what cares he?
Through the quiet valley,
Where the streamlets stray;
By the grassy hillside
Swift he cleaves his way.
Then past the copse where blackbirds
Warble loud and clear.
To the noisy city,
Through the tunnel drear.