THE MOONLIGHT SONATA.
Reading edition
(By a Musical Maniac.)
FIRST MOVEMENT.
LAZILY, cloudlets, over the Moon,
(Veiling little, if aught ye veil)
Vapours across the starlight strewn,
Sail for ever, if thus ye sail.
Idle breezes out of the West,
Let them linger in phantom forms.
Night, be still as an infant's rest;
Banish the darkness, chain the storms.
Hush, my spirit, be calm as Night;
Sorrow is calm, but it is not peace.
Heralds of tempest, over the light,
Storm-clouds hurry and will not cease.
Eyes are dim that were bright and blue,
Hands were warm that are long since cold;
Both lie under the shading yew,
Both lie under the churchyard mould.
SECOND MOVEMENT.
The Elves! the tiny tricksy Elves i
They love to treat their dainty selves,
To dancing' in the night-time.
'Tis twelve o'clock—the fairy hour?
For hark! the sounds from yonder tow'n
Inform me that's the right time.
Here comes the laughing, rabble rout;
See, see—they frisk around, about,
In every kind of antic.
And there's the king—the queen—the court—
The clergy, and the common sort—
All absolutely frantic.
My goodness gracious, here's a game!
I'm so delighted that I came
To brood upon my sorrow.
A melancholy muff I've been;
But, after this delightful scene,
I 'll come again to-morrow.
LAST MOVEMENT.
Hurricane signals gather apace
Thickly over the pale moon's face;
Masses of blackness looming forth,
South'ard and eastward, west and north,
Wild wind veering, ever and aye,
Over the compass—over the sky.
Mutter of thunder, lurid gleams,
Rain that clashes in deluge-streams.
Over the wheat-fields, over the stiles,
Two-and-a-quarter of English miles.
Boots that cannot exclude the wet;
Clothes the thinnest that cash can get.
Far away, in the homely cot,
Stands my gingham—the best I've got.
Never so much as a Macintosh;
N ever a cape, or an odd galosh!
(Chord in the minor, FF.)
