Vaughan-Williams' 'Linden Lea': A Reminder Of Beauty

Dear God, it has been an ugly year. We were not created for lives of desperate violence, greed, bitterness, and lust for power. We can be better than that.

Pieces of music like Ralph Vaughan-Williams' Linden Lea remind us of this.

OS hopes you will stop for a bit over three minutes, and take this in.





The shining grass-blades, timber-shaded,
Now do quiver under foot;
And birds do whistle overhead,
And water's bubbling in its bed,
And there for me the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

When leaves that lately were a-springing
Now do fade within the copse,
And painted birds do hush their singing
Up upon the timber tops;
And brown-leaved fruit's a-turning red,
In cloudless sunshine, overhead,
With fruit for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

Let other folk make money faster
In the air of dark-roomed towns,
I don't dread a peevish master;
Though no man do heed my frowns,
I be free to go abroad,
Or take again my homeward road
To where, for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

(William Barnes)


HT: Calling England