A White Blossom

"A White Blossom" is the second song from Gardner Read's Four Nocturnes, op. 23 and sets the poetry of Vail Read, his wife, to music.

Composer: Gardner ReadSong Collection: Four Nocturnes, op. 23

Print vitals & song text

Text

A White Blossom

by Vail Read

 

A fragile bud, as white as jade,    

on a single jasmine flow’r,     

Perfumes the night outside my window     

this warm silken hour.     

Hush’d as snow in early evening,     

Melting as a warbler’s song in rain,     

It shines, a small white peace in the dark:     

Beauty’s breath, muting pain.

Recordings

Gardner Read: The Art of Song

(William Blake, Frances Frost, James Joyce, Gardner Read, Henry Russell, Rabindranath Tagore and Jean Starr Untermeyer)

1999

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