Latest / Walden / Severn and Somme-Ivor Gurney

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Severn and Somme-Ivor Gurney · Walden

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Preface to Severn Sommes by Ivergerney. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Severn
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  Speaker 1: and som by Ivergerney Preface. This book stands dedicated to
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  Speaker 1: one only of my friends, but there are many others
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  Speaker 1: to whom I would willingly dedicate, singly and in state,
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  Speaker 1: if that did not mean the writing of forty books
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of verse and dedications a terrible thing for all concerned,
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  Speaker 1: so that under the single name and sign of homage
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  Speaker 1: and affection, I would desire such readers as come to
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  Speaker 1: me to add also to my father and mother. F. W. Harvey,
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  Speaker 1: also a Gloucestershire lad, Miss Marion Scott, whose criticism has
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  Speaker 1: been so useful, and she so kind in spite of
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  Speaker 1: my continued refusal to alter a word of anything. The
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  Speaker 1: Vicar of Twigworth, Herbert Howells, and this is not the
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  Speaker 1: last time you will hear of him. Mister Hilaire Bellock,
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  Speaker 1: whose path to Rome has been my trench companion with
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the spirit of man. Mister Wilfrid Gibson, author of Friends,
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  Speaker 1: a great little book, many others, also, including Shakespeare and Bark,
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  Speaker 1: both friends of mine, and last but not least, my
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  Speaker 1: comrades in two platoons of the Glocesters, who so often
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: have wondered whether I were crazy or not. Let them
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: draw their own conclusions. Now for the writing of this book,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: it was that so distracted me. This is a long list,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and even now does not include old missus Poyner, who
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  Speaker 1: was so jolly and long suffering. No more my boat
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  Speaker 1: Dorothy now idle in the mud, though a poet sang
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  Speaker 1: of her full glory at Framilode. Even as I write,
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  Speaker 1: the list becomes fuller, further extended. Yet a soldier must
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  Speaker 1: face pain, and so it remains shorter by far than
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  Speaker 1: might be. I fear that those who buy the book,
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  Speaker 1: or even borrow to get information about the Gloucesters, will
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  Speaker 1: be disappointed. Most of the book is concerned with a
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  Speaker 1: person named myself, and the rest with my county Gloucester,
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  Speaker 1: that whether I die or live, stays always with me,
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  Speaker 1: being in itself so beautiful, so full of memories, whose
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  Speaker 1: people are so good to be friends with, so easy
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  Speaker 1: going and so frank. Some of the aforementioned people I
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: have never had good fortune enough to meet in the flesh.
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  Speaker 1: But that was not my fault. I hope that you
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  Speaker 1: will forgive my using their names with that permission, are
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  Speaker 1: would they only retaliating kind? That is, however, not lightly,
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  Speaker 1: as I was never famous, and a common private makes
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  Speaker 1: but little show. All these verses were written in France
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  Speaker 1: and in the sound of guns, save only two or
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: three earlier pieces. This should be a reason enough to
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  Speaker 1: excuse any roughness in the technique. If more reason is required.
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  Speaker 1: People at home, and most of all people of Gloucester,
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  Speaker 1: may well be indulgent to one who thought of them
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  Speaker 1: so often, and whose images of beauty in the mind
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  Speaker 1: were always of Gloucester, County of Cotswold and Severn, and
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  Speaker 1: a plain, rich, blossomy and sweet of airs, as the
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  Speaker 1: wise Romans knew who made their homes in exile by
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  Speaker 1: the Brown River, watching the further bank for Signs of
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: War Ivor Gurney, Spring nineteen seventeen d of preface recording
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: by Alan Mapstone to certain Comrades by Ivor Gurney, read
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  Speaker 1: for Librivots dot Org by Allan Mapstone, E. S. And J. H.
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  Speaker 1: Living We loved you, yet withheld our praises before your faces,
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  Speaker 1: and though we had your spirits high in honor after
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  Speaker 1: the English manner, we said no word. Yet as such comrades,
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  Speaker 1: would you understood? Such friendship is not touched by death's disaster,
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  Speaker 1: but stands the faster, and all the shocks and trials
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  Speaker 1: of time cannot shake it one jot. Beside the fire
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  Speaker 1: at night some far descen we shall remember and tell
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  Speaker 1: men unbegotten as yet the story of your sad glory,
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  Speaker 1: of your plain strength, your truth of heart, your splendid coolness,
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  Speaker 1: all ended, all ended. Yet the aching hearts of lovers
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  Speaker 1: joy uncovers glad in their sorrow, hoping that if they
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  Speaker 1: must come to dust and ending such as yours, may
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  Speaker 1: be their portion and great good fortune. That if we
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  Speaker 1: may not live to serve in peace England watching increase,
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  Speaker 1: then death with you, honor'd and swift and high, and
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  Speaker 1: so not die in trenches. July nineteen sixteen. End of poem.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: This recording is in the public domain. The Fire Kindled
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: by Ivor Gurney, read forlibrivox dot Org by Alan Maapstone.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: God that I might see Framelode once again, red marley
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  Speaker 1: or renewed, clear shining after rain and cranam cronum trees
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  Speaker 1: and blaze of autumn hues portway under the moon, silver'd
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  Speaker 1: with freezing dews may hill that Gloucester dwellers gainst every
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  Speaker 1: sunset sea and the wide Severn River, homing again to
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  Speaker 1: the sea, the star of after glow, venus on western hills,
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  Speaker 1: dimmuck in spring, Oh, spring of home, Oh, daffodils, and
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  Speaker 1: Malvern's matchless huge mastions of ancient fires. These will not
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: let me rest. So hot my heart desires. Here we
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: go sore of shoulder, soar of foot, by quiet streams.
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  Speaker 1: But these are not my rivers, and these are useless dreams.
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  Speaker 1: End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: To the Poets Before Battle by Ivor Gurney, read forlibrebox
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  Speaker 1: dot Org by Alan Mapstone. Now, youth, the hour of
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: thy dread passion comes. Thy lovely things must all be
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  Speaker 1: laid away, and thou, as others, must face the riven day,
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  Speaker 1: unstirred by rattle of the rolling drum or bugle's strident cry.
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  Speaker 1: When mere noise numbs the sense of being, the fierce
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  Speaker 1: sick soul doth sway remember thy great craft's honor that
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  Speaker 1: they may say nothing in shame of poets. Then the
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  Speaker 1: crumbs of praise the little verse mean joyed to take
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  Speaker 1: shall be forgotten. Then they must know we are, for
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  Speaker 1: all our skill in words, equal in might and strong
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  Speaker 1: of metal as those we Honor'd make the name of
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  Speaker 1: poet terrible in just war, and like a crown of
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  Speaker 1: honor upon the fight. End of poem. This recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Mazemore by Ivor Gurney read Filipprivoxtont
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  Speaker 1: Org by our Mapstone. Oh, when we swung through Maizemore,
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  Speaker 1: the Maizemore people cheered, and women ran from farm yards,
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  Speaker 1: and men from ricks afared to lose the sight of
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  Speaker 1: soldiers who would, for Christmas Day blow Kaiser William's army
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  Speaker 1: like mist of breath away the war. It was but
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  Speaker 1: young men, and we were young, unknowing the path. We
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  Speaker 1: were to tread the way the path was going. And
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  Speaker 1: not a man of all of us marching across the
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  Speaker 1: bridge had thought, how homeward linger in our hearts as
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  Speaker 1: Maizemore rich, when the darkness downward hovers making trees like
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  Speaker 1: German shadows, How our souls fly homing, homing, times and
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  Speaker 1: times to Maizemore meadows by Ober's Ridge, that Maismore. Men
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  Speaker 1: have died in vain to hold the burning thought, but
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  Speaker 1: once desires Maismore in mourning gold. Oh, when we march
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  Speaker 1: through Maismore, pass many a creaking cart, we little thought
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  Speaker 1: we had in us love. So halt at heart. End
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  Speaker 1: of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 2: Afterwards by Ivor Gurney, read for LibriVox dot Org by
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  Speaker 2: Joanna Michael Hoyit. Afterwards, those dreadful evidences of man's ill doing.
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  Speaker 2: The kindly mother of all shall soon hide deep, covering
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  Speaker 2: with tender fingers her children asleep, till times slow cycle
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  Speaker 2: turns them to renewing in other forms. Their beauty, no grief,
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  Speaker 2: no ruin, irrevocable woe. They'll lie, They'll steep their hearts
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  Speaker 2: in peace, unfathomed, till they leap quick to the light
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  Speaker 2: of the sun as flowers, stewing maybe their own friend's paths.
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  Speaker 2: And that's not all. When men who knew them walk
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  Speaker 2: old ways alone, the paths they loved together. At evenfall,
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  Speaker 2: the troubled heart shall know of presence near, friendly familiar,
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  Speaker 2: and the old grief gone, the new keen joy shall
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  Speaker 2: make all darkness clear and a poem. This recording is
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  Speaker 2: in the public domain.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Carol by Ivor Gurney, read for Librovox dot Org by
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  Speaker 3: Larry Wilson. Winter has now bared the trees killed with
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  Speaker 3: tinny swords, the jolly leafies that Midsummer sees but left
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  Speaker 3: the Ivy and the holly. Hold them high and make
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  Speaker 3: delight for Christus Joy that's born tonight. All green things,
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  Speaker 3: but thee have hid their heads or died in melancholy.
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  Speaker 3: Winter spite them all his rids, save only Ivy and
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  Speaker 3: brave Holly. Give them place in all men's sight for
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  Speaker 3: Christ disgrace that's born tonight. Baby eyes are pleased to
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  Speaker 3: see bright red berries and children jolly, So shout and
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  Speaker 3: dance and sing with glee and honor Ivy and prickly Holly,
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  Speaker 3: honor courage, and make delight for Christ's sake. That's born tonight,
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  Speaker 3: Christus natus Hodie. Drink deep of joy on Christmas Day,
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  Speaker 3: join hands and sing a roundelay for this as Christ's
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  Speaker 3: and Children's day, Christus natus Hodi Hodie in the poem.
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  Speaker 3: This recordings in the public domain.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Strange Service by Ivor Gurney read for libyvox dot Org
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  Speaker 1: by Alumtone. Little did I dream, England, that you bore
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: me under the Cotswold hills, beside the water meadows, to
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  Speaker 1: do you dreadful service here beyond your borders and your
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  Speaker 1: unfolding seas. I was a dreamer ever and bound to
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  Speaker 1: your dear service. Meditating deep, I thought on your secret beauty,
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  Speaker 1: as through a child's face one may see the clear
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  Speaker 1: spirit miraculously shining your hills, not only hills, but friends
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  Speaker 1: of mine, and kindly your tiny knolls and orchards hidden
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  Speaker 1: beside the river, muddy and strong, flowing with shy and
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  Speaker 1: tiny streamlets, safe in its bosom. Now these are memories only,
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  Speaker 1: and your skies and rushy skypools fragile mirrors, easy broken
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  Speaker 1: by moving airs. In my deep heart forever goes on
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  Speaker 1: your daily being and uses consecrate. Think on me too, O, mother,
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  Speaker 1: who rest my soul, to serve you in strange and
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  Speaker 1: fearful ways beyond your encircling waters. None but you can
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  Speaker 1: know my heart its tears and sacrifice, None but you repay.
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  Speaker 1: End of poem. This recording is in public domain.
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  Speaker 4: Serenity by Ivor Gurney read for LibriVox dot org. North Steel,
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  Speaker 4: nor flame has any power on me, save that its
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  Speaker 4: malice work. The Almighty will. Nor steel, north flame has
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  Speaker 4: any power on me through tempests of hell fire. I
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  Speaker 4: must go free and unafraid, so I remember still nor steel,
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  Speaker 4: nor flame has any power on me, save that it's
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  Speaker 4: malice work. The Almighty will. End of poem. This recording
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  Speaker 4: is in the public domain.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: The Signaler's Vision by Eva Journey read for the LibriVox
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  Speaker 5: dot org by m Lee. One rainy winter dusk, mending
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  Speaker 5: a party cable, sudden, I saw so clear home, and
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  Speaker 5: the tee table so clear. It was so sweet. I
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  Speaker 5: did not start, but drew the breath of sweet content.
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  Speaker 5: Some minutes ere I knew my mother's face, it soother
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  Speaker 5: than autumn half lights, kind, My softly smiling sisters who
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  Speaker 5: keep me still in mind were but a dream of
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  Speaker 5: vision that faded, and I knew the smell of trench
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  Speaker 5: trench feeling, and turned to work anew and of poem.
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  Speaker 5: This recording is in the public domain.
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: The Mother by Ivor Gurney read for LibriVox dot org
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  Speaker 6: by James K. We Scar the Earth with dreadful enginery
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  Speaker 6: She takes us to her bosom at the last, hiding
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  Speaker 6: our hate with love, who cannot see of any child
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  Speaker 6: the faults, and holds us fast. We'll wait in quiet
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  Speaker 6: till our passions past. End of poem. This recording is
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  Speaker 6: in the public domain. To England a note by Ivor
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: Gurney read for LibriVox dot org by James K.
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: White.
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  Speaker 6: I watched the boys of England, where they went through
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  Speaker 6: mud and water to do appointed things. See one a stake,
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  Speaker 6: and one wire netting brings, and one comes slowly under
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  Speaker 6: a burdened bent of ammunition. Though the strength be spent,
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  Speaker 6: they carry on under the shadowing wings of death, the
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: ever present, and hark one sings, although no joy from
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  Speaker 6: the gray skies be lent. Are these the heroes? These
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  Speaker 6: have kept from you the power of primal savagery, So
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: long shall break the devil's legions. These they are, who
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: do in silence what they might boast to do in
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  Speaker 6: the height of battle. Tell the world in song how
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  Speaker 6: they do hate and fear the face of war. End
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  Speaker 6: of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Bach
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: and the Sentry by Ivor Gurney, read for Librivos dot
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  Speaker 6: Org by James K. White, Watching the dark, my spirit
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: rose in flood on that most dearest prelude of my delight.
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: The low lying mist lifted its hood, The October stars
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: showed nobly in clear night. When I return and to
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: real music, making and play that prelude, how will it happen?
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: Then?
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: Shall I feel as I felt a century, hardly waking
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: with a dull sense of no man's land again? End
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Letters
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: by Ivor Gurney read for LibriVox dot Org by James K. White.
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: Mail's up. The vast of night is over, and love
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: of friends fills all one's mind. His wife, his sister,
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: or his lover mail's up. The vast of night is over.
• 20:18
  Speaker 6: The gray faced heaven joy does cover with love, and
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: God once more seems kind.
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  Speaker 7: Mails up.
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: The vast of night is over, and love of friends
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  Speaker 6: fills all one's mind. End of poem. This recording is
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: in the public domain.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: Strafe by ever Journey read for a whipprebox dot Org
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  Speaker 5: by am Lee. The crumps are falling twenty to the minute.
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  Speaker 5: We crouch and wait the end of it, or us
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: just behind the trench before and in it. The crumps
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: are falling twenty to the minute of Framelode, Oh Masmore's
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: laughing lint. Here comes a monster like a motor bus.
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: The crumbs are falling twenty to the minute. We crouch
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: and wait the end of it or us end of poem.
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  Speaker 5: This recording is in the public domain.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Acquiescence by Iver Gurney read for LibriVox dot Org by
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Larry Wilson. Since I can neither alter my destiny by
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: one hair's breadth from its appointed course, Since bribes, nor prayer,
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: nor any earthly force may from its pathway move a
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: life not free, I must gather together the whole strength
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: of me my senses, make my willing servitors cherish and
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: feed the better, starve the worse. Turn all my pride
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: to proud humility, meeting the daily shocks and frozen stony,
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: cynical face of doubt with smiles and joy, as a
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: battle with autumn winds delights. A boy before the smut
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: of the world and the lust of money, power and fame,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: can yet his youth destroy ere he has scorned his
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: father's patrimony in the poem. This recording is in the
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: public domain.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: The Strong Thing by Ivor Gurney, Meat for LibriVox dot
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: org by on a matchtore. I have seen death and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the faces of men in fear of death, and shattered,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: terribly ruined, flesh appalled. But through the horror, colored and clear,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the love of my country Gloucester rises afresh, And on
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the day of days, the judgment day, the word of
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: doom awaiting, breathless and still all marvel how sweets the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: air down from a load way, and take my sentence
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: on sheer down cricklely Hill. End of poem. This recording
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain.
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: Scott's by Eger Gurney read for Whippyfox dot Org by m.
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: We.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: The boys who asked ingested with me, But yesterday so
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: fit for kings to speak too, so blithe and proud
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: and gay are now but thoughts of blind pain and
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: best hid away over the top this morning at the
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: dawn's first gray, Oh, if we catch the kaiser, his
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: dirty hid to flay, will hang him on a tall tree,
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: his pride to allay, that will not bring the boys
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: again to mountain and pray over the top this morning,
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: at the dawn's first gray, to think Earth's best and
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: dearest turned to red broken clay by One Devil's Second
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: What words can we say? Or what gift has got
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: their mother's anguish to repay? Over the top this morning,
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: at the first flush of dead and of palm. This
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: recording is in the public domain.
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: To an Unknown Lady by Ivor Gurney read for LibriVox
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: dot org. You that were once so sweet are sweeter
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: now that an even leaden grayness clouds my days. A
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: pain it is to think on your sweet ways, your careless, tender, speaking,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: tender and low. When the hills enclosed us hid in
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: happy valleys, greeting a thousand times the things most dear.
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: We wasted thoughts of love and laughter clear, and told
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: our passion out in mirthful sallies. But in me now
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: a burning impulse rages to praise our love in words
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: like flaming gold, molten and live forever, not fit for cold,
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: and a coward like to passions time assuages. Nor do
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: I fear you are lovely only in dreams, being as
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: the sky reflected in clear streams and of poem. This
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: recording is in the public domain.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: Song and Pain by Ivor Gurney read for LibriVox dot
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: Org by James K.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: White.
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: Out of my sorrow. I made these songs out of
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: my sorrow, though somewhat of the makings eager pain from
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: joy did borrow. Someday, I trust God's purpose of pain
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: for me shall be complete. And then to enter in
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: the house of joy, prepare my feet. End of poem.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: This recording is in the public domain. Purple and Black
• 27:44
  Speaker 6: by Ivor Gurney, read for LibriVox dot org by James K. White.
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: The death of princes is honored most greatly. Proud kings
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: put purple on in manor state. Though they have lived
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: such life as God offends, gone fearful, down to death,
• 28:08
  Speaker 6: sick without friends, and in the templed dim trumpets of
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: gold proclaim their glory. So their story is told in
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: sentimental hymns. Weeping her dullar, the mother of heroes wears
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: vile black death's color. Who should walk proudly with the
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: noblest one of all that purple throng? This was my son.
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: West Country by Ivor Gurney, readf LibriVox dot org by
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Alan Mapstone. Spring comes soon to Masmore and spring comes
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: sweet with birds songs and blue skies on gay dancing feet.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: But she is such a shy lady I fear will
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: never meet. Yet some day round a corner where the
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: hedge foams white, I'll find Spring sleeping in the young
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: crescent night, and seize her and make her yield all
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: her delights. But yon's a glad story that's yet to
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: be told, His gray winter's bareness, and no shadowed cold.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Oh Spring, with your music, your blue, green and gold,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: come shameless, hard wisdom, with laughter and gold.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: End of poem.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: The recordis in the public domain.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Firelight by Ivor Gurney, read for LibriVox dot Org by
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: Larry Wilson. Silent bathed in fire light, in dusky light
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: and gloom, the boys squeeze together in the smoky, dirty room,
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: crowded round the fireplace, a thing of bricks and tin.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: They watch the shifting nimbers till the good dreams enter
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: in that fill the low hovel with blossoms fresh with dew,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: and blue sky and white clouds that seill the clear
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: air through. They talk at daffodilies in the bluebell's skye
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: bed till silence thrills and murmurs at the things they
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: have said, and yet they have no skill of words,
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: whose eyes glow so deep. They wait for night and silence,
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: and the strange power of sleep to lift them and
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: drift them like seabirds over the sea, where someday I
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: shall walk again, and they walk with me in the poem.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: This recording is in the public domain.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: The Estamine by Ivor Gurney redpolibrivox dot Org by URM. Mapstone.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: The crowd of us were drinking one night at Rayes blue.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: The glasses were a clinking. The Estamine was full and
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: loud with song and story, and blue with tails and smoke.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: We spoke no word of glory, nor mentioned foreign yoke,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: but yarns of girls em blighty, vein jolly ugly fair
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: stand off I foolish flighty, And oh that we were
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: there whenever thuds are Minnie, But Minnie smiles at you.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: A meeting in the spinney with kisses not a few,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: and of an inn that Johnson does keep the rising sun.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: His friends call him Jack Johnson. He's glocesters only one,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: and talk of poacher's habits, but girls ever and again,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of killing weasels, rabbits, stoats, pheasants, never men although we
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: knew tomorrow must take us to the line in beer,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: his thoughts and sorrow, in ruddy and white wine. When
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: all had finished drinking, though still was clear, each head
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: we said no word, went slinking straight homeward into bed.
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: Oh.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Never lads were merrier nor straight, You're nor more fine,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: though we were only terrier and only second line. Oh,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: I may get to Blighty or Hell without a sign
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: of all the love that filled me, leave dumb, the
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: love that filled me, the flood of love that filled me,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: for those dear comrades of mine. End of poem. This
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain.
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: Song by Eva Gurney read for LibriVox dot org by Mue.
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: Only the wanderer knows England's graces or canon new see
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: clear familiar faces, and who loves joys e that dwells
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: in shadows, do not forget me quite of severn meadows
• 34:06
  Speaker 5: and of palm. This recording is in the public domain.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Ballad of the Three Specters by Ivor Gurney, read forliverybox
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: dot org by Alan Mapstone. As I went up by
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: overlers in mud and water cold to the knee, there
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: went three jeering, fleering specters that walked abreast and talked
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: of me. The first said, here's a right brave soldier
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: that walks the dark unfearingly. Soon he'll come back on
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: a fine stretcher, and laughing for a nice blighty. The
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: second read his face, old comrade, no kind of lucky
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: chance I see. One day he'll freeze in mud to
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: the marrow, then look his last on Picardee. Though bitter
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the words of these first twain curses the thirdspap venomously.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: He'll stay untouched till the war's last dawning, then live
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: one hour in agony. Liars The first two were behold
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: me at sloping arms, by one, two three, waiting the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: time I shall discover whether the third spake verity end
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the poem. This recording is in the public domain.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: Communion by Iver Gurney read for Lebrevox dot Org by
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: Larry Wilson. Beauty lies so deep on all the fields,
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: nothing for the eyes, but blessing yields tall elms, greedy
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: of flight. Then tiptoe see the last light linger in
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: their tracery. The guns are dumb, are still all evil
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: noises the singing heart, and peace softly rejoices only unsatisfied
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: with Beauty's hunger and sacramental thirst. Nothing of anger. Mist
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: wraiths haunt the path as daylight lessons, the stars grow clearer,
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: and my dead friend's presence in the poem. This recording
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: is in the public domain.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: Time and the Soldier by Iver Gurney read Herliveryvox dot
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: org by Alanmapstone. How slow you move, old time? Walk
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: a bit faster, old fool. I'm not your slave, beauties,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: my master, there you hold me for a space. What
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: are you? Time? A ghost? A thing of thought, an
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: easy rhyme. Someday I shall again for all your scheming.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: See Severn Valley, Clouds like banners, streaming and walking Cranham
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Lanes by maismore Go but full decrepit, fool, you are
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: so slow? End of poem. This recording is in the
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: public domain.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: Influences by ever Gurney read for LibriVox dot org. When
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: woods of home grow dark, I grow dark too. Images
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: of strange power fill me and thrill me that hour
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: somber of hue, the woods of Dunzanane, I walk and
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: know what storms did shake Macbeth that brought on Duncan's
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: death and his own woe strange whispers, chill the blood
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: of evil breath such rumors as did stir which and
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: foul sorcerer on the lone heath. No power have these
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: on me. I know too well their weakness to condemn.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: Spring will exorcize them with one bluebell. End of poem.
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: This recording is in the public domain.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: After Glow by Ivor Gurney read for LibriVox dot Org
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: by Larry Wilson to F. W. Harvey, out of the
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: smoke and dust of the little room, with teatock loud
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: and laughter of happy boys, I passed into the dusk.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: Suddenly the noise ceased with a shock, left me alone
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: in the gloom to wonder at the miracle hanging high,
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: tangled in twigs, the silver crescent. Clear time passed from mind,
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: Time died, and then we were once more at home together,
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: you and I, the elms with arms of love wrapped
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: us in shade, who watched the ecstatic west with one desire,
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: one soul upwrapped as still another fire consumed us and
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: our joy yet greater made that bok should see for us,
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: mix us in one the joy of firelight and the
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: sunken sun. In the poem, this recording is in the
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: public domain.
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: Hail and Farewell by Ever Gernie read for Liprevox dot
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: org by M. Lee. The destined bullet wounded him, They
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: brought him down to die far off a bugle sounded
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: him retreat, goodbye, strange that from ways, so hated and
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: tyranny so hard should comeness strangely feated and farewell word
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: he thought some old sweat might have thrilled at heart
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: to hear gone down into the night, too proud to fear.
• 41:05
  Speaker 5: But I the fool at arms musician poet to boot,
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: who hail, release what charms? In this salute? He smiled
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: the latest chest that time on me shall play, and
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: watched the dying west went out with the day and
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: Praise by Arvi Gurney read for LibriVox dot org by
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: Larry Wilson, Oh, friends of mine, if men mockt my name,
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: say children loved him, since by that word you will
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: have far removed him from any bitter shame in the poem.
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: This recording is in the public domain.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Winter Beauty by Ivor Gurney read Filiverrivox dot Org by
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Alan Lapstone. I cannot live with beauty out of mind.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: I seek her and desire her all the day, being
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: the chiefest treasure man may find, and word most sweet.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: His eager lips can say, she is as strong on
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: me as though I wander'd in severn meadows some blue,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: riotous day. But since the trees have long since lost
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: their green, and I an exile, can but dream of
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: things grow magic in the mind. I watch the sheen
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: of frost, and hear the song or Ryan sings, and
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: hear the star born passion of Beethoven, Man's consolations sung
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: on the quivering strings, Beauty of song remember'd. Sunset glories
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: mix in my mind till I not care nor know
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: whether the stars do move me, Golden stories or ruddy
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: cotswold in the sunset glow. I am unwrapp't and not
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: my own, immortal in winds of beauty, swinging to and fro,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Beauty immortal, not to be hid, desire of all men,
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: Each in his fashion give me the strong thirst, pass
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: satisfaction for thee and fire not to be quench'd. O
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: lift me, bear me along, touch me, make me worthy
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: that men may seek me for beauty, Mistress immortal healer
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: of wrong and a poem. This recording is in the
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: public domain.
• 44:11
  Speaker 8: Song of Pain and Beauty by Ivor Gurney, read for
• 44:15
  Speaker 8: LibriVox dot org by Yogi MacCall. Song of Pain and
• 44:21
  Speaker 8: Beauty to M M. S Oh, May these days of pain,
• 44:28
  Speaker 8: these wasted seeming days somewhere reflower again with scent and
• 44:33
  Speaker 8: savor of praise. Draw out of memory all bitterness of night,
• 44:37
  Speaker 8: with thy son's rays, and strengthen thou in me the
• 44:42
  Speaker 8: love of men. Here found an eager charity that out
• 44:46
  Speaker 8: of difficult ground spring like flowers and barren deserts, or
• 44:50
  Speaker 8: like light, or a lovely sound, a simpler heart than
• 44:55
  Speaker 8: mine might have seen beauty clear where I could see
• 44:58
  Speaker 8: no sign of thee but only fear. Strengthen me, Make
• 45:03
  Speaker 8: me to see Thy beauty always in every happening here
• 45:09
  Speaker 8: in trenches, March nineteen seventeen. End of poem. This recording
• 45:15
  Speaker 8: is in the public domain.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Spring ruin May nineteen seventeen by Ivor Gurney, read Forliveryvox
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: dot org by Alamapstone. I am dumb, I am dumb,
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: And here's a Norman orchard, and here's spring goading the
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: sullen words that will not come. Romance beating his distant
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: magical drum, calls to a soldier bearing alien arms, throw
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: off your yoke, and hear my darlings sing, blackbirds by
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: red roofed farms, more drunk than any poet, with May's delight,
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: green alive to the eye, and pink and white joys
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: there But not for me and song? But shall I
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: sing that live as in a dream of some bad night,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: whose memories are of such ecstasy and height of passionate joy,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: that pain alone is born of beauty in cloud and
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: flower and tree, Yes, and the Great Cathedral's towering stone.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: To me, these are but shadows of orchards and old meadows,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: trodden before the dawn, trodden after dusk. All loveliness of
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: France is as a husk, the inner living spirit of
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: beauty gone to that familiar beauty, now withdrawn from exiles,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: hung angering ever for the sight of her day, face
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: England's or in some orchard space, breathless to drink peace
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: from her calm nights. How shall I sing? Since she
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: sings not to me songs anymore. High rule she holds
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: forever on the sea that's hers, but dreams too might
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: guard the shore of France, that's French, and set apart
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: forever a spirit of love, our link of song. Doth ever,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: had it been hate, the weakest of all sworn enemies
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: of love, we should have broken through or passed above
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: its foolish barriers. Here we must bow as to established fate,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and reverently for comrades and high peers, sisters in blood,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: our mother's brook, no rival in their state of motherhood.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: But not forever shall our travails last, and not forever
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: we be held by iron duty over sea. The image
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: of evil shall be overcast, and all his willing slaves
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: and priests of evil, scattered like dust, shall lie upon
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: the plain that image ground to dust, utterly level with
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: unregarded weeds, and all is vain. The oppressed shall lift
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: their hearts up once again, and we return not to
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: scarred lands and homes laden the dust, not with hard
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: hearts to sights that sear and burn, but with assured
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: longing and certain trust to England's royal grace and dignity,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: to England's changing skies, rich greenery, high strength, controlled Queenly's
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: serenity in violent kept by her confederate sea and hearts
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: resolved to every sacrifice, we shall come home. We shall
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: come home again, living and dead, one huge, victorious host,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: the dead that would not leave their comrades till the
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: last steep were topped of the difficult hill, the last
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: farthing paid of the great cost, the last thrill suffered
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: of the great pain. Living and dead, we shall come
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: home at last to her sweet breast. England's by one
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: touch be paid in full for all things gray and
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: long and terrible, of that dread night which seemed eternity,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: O Mother, shall thy kisses not restore body and life's
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: sick soul? Yes, and set free songs and great floods
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: of lovelier melody than thou didst give when we, those
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: days of half awake did live. And joy must surely
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: flower again, more fair to us who dwelt in shadows
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: and foul air. We'll breathe and drink in song. Spring
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: shall blot out all traces of old care her clouds
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: of green and waves of gold among we shall grow
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: free of heart, and great and young, be made anew
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: of that great resurrection. Perfect as is the Violet's perfection,
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Perfect as she who sanctifies our memory with sorrow, hugs
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: as a mother hugs the thoughts that harrow, watching for dawn,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: hungering for the morrow, lone over sea. I am dumb,
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: now dumb, But in that time I want music shall
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: not come, Mother of beauty, mistress of the sea. End
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: June to Come by Iver Gurney read for librevox dot
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: Org by Larry Wilson. When the sun's fire and gold sets,
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: the bee humming. I will not write to tell him
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: that I'm coming, but ride out unawares on that old
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: road of Mentersworth, of peace, a framelode, and walked, not
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: looked for, in that cool, dark passage, never a single
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: word myself the message. And then well, oh we'll drift
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: and stand and gaze and wonder how we could, in
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: those bad days live without Mentersworth or western air fanning
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: the hot cheek, stirring the hair, in land where hate
• 52:03
  Speaker 3: of men, God's love did cover this land. And here's
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: my dream, irrevocably over in the poem. This recording is
• 52:15
  Speaker 3: in the public domain. Hark Hark the Lark by Ivor
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: Gurney read for LibriVox dot Org by Larry Wilson. Hark, hark,
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: the lark to Heaven's gate. A prison pours out his joy.
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: I think of you shut in some distant prison. Oh boy,
• 52:39
  Speaker 3: poor boy, your heart grown sick with hope deferred and
• 52:44
  Speaker 3: shadows of prison ways, not daring to snatch a thought
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: of severn meadows or old blue days in the poem.
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: This recording is in the public domain. Song at Morning
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: by Ivor Gurney, read for LibriVox dot Org by Larry Wilson.
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: Praise for the day's magnificent uprising, praise for the cool
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: air and the blue, new old ever surprising face of
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: the sky and mirrored blue of the pool. Only the
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: full bat witted, owl eyed fool can hold the deaf
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: ear while life begins, the actual opening of a mirrored stories, blindness, ingratitude,
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: The fooliest sins now. If this day blot out my
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: chief desires and leave me maimed and blind, and full
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: of hot surges of insurrection, evil fires, memories of joys
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: that seem petter forgot quiet me, then thy will is
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: binding on the nearest flower, as on the farthest star.
• 53:58
  Speaker 3: And what shall put me out of thy power or
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: from thy guidance? Far though I, in hell of my
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: self will would shut me. But if Thy will be
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: joy for me today, give me clear eyes, a heart
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: open to feel thy influence, thy kindness. Oh, unseal the
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: shut the hidden places in me, reveal those things most precious,
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: secretly hidden away from all save children and the simply wise.
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: Give me clear eyes and strength to know whatever may
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: befall the eternal presence of great mysteries, glorifying THEE for
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: all in the poem. This recording is in the public domain.
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: Trees by Evil Gurney readflibrivox dot org by Joanna Michael Hoyt. Trees.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: You cannot think how ghastly these battlefields look under a
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: grind sky. Torn trees are the most terrible things I
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: have ever seen. Absolute blight and curse is on the
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: face of everything. The dead land oppressed me. I turned
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: my thoughts away and went where hill and meadows are
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: shadowless and gay, Where Cooper stands by Crenham, where the
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: hill gashes white show golden in the sunshine are sunshine,
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: God's delight, beauty. My feet stayed at last, where green
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: was most cool, Trees worthy of all worship I've worshiped.
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: Then oh fool, let my thoughts slide unwitting to other
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: dreadful trees, and found me standing, staring, sick of heart
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: at these and of poem. This recording is in the
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: public domain.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Requiem by Ivor Gurney, rereadfully Revox dot Org by Alan Mapstone. Requiem,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: pour out your light, o stars, and do not hold
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: your loveliest shining from Earth's outworn shell, pure and cold,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: your radiance, pure and cold my dead friend's face as well. Requiem,
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: nor grief nor tears should wrong the silent dead, save
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: England's for her children fallen so far from her eager care,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: though by God's justice led and fallen in such a war. Requiem,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: pour out your bounty moon of radiance shining on all
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: this shattered flesh, these quiet forms, For these were slain
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: so strangely still reclining in the noble cause was ever
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: waged with arms and a poem. This recording is in
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For England by Ivor Gurney, read Forlibrivox
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: dot Org by Anmapstone Sonnets nineteen seventeen, to the memory
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: of Rupert Brooke. For England, though heaven be packed with joy,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: bewildering pleasures of soul and heart and mind. Yet who
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: would willingly let slip, freely, let go Earth's mortal loveliness
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: go wandering where never the late bird is heard to sing,
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: nor full sailed cloud galleons wander slow, No pathways in
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: the woods, no afterglow, when the air fire and magic
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: with sense of spring. So the dark horror clouds us
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: and the dread of the unknown. But if it must be,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: then what better passing than to go out like men
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: for England, giving all in one white glow, whose bodies
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: shall lie in Earth as on a bed, and as
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: the will directs our spirits may go. And a poem.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: This recording is in the public domain.
• 58:40
  Speaker 7: Pain by Ivor Gurney, read for LibriVox dot Org by
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  Speaker 7: Ben Dowling. Pain pain, continual pain, unending, hard even to
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  Speaker 7: the roughest. But to those hungry for beauty, not the
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  Speaker 7: wisest knows, nor most pitiful hearted what the wending of
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  Speaker 7: one hour's way meant? Gray anatomy lending weight to the
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  Speaker 7: gray skies, gray mud, Where goes an army of gray
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  Speaker 7: bedrenched scarecrows in rows, careless at last of cruelest fate,
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  Speaker 7: sending seeing the pitiful eyes of men fordun or horses
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  Speaker 7: shot too tired merely to stir, dying in shell holds,
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  Speaker 7: both slain by the mud men, broken shrieking even to
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  Speaker 7: hear a gun till pain grinds down, or lethargy numbs her.
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  Speaker 7: The amazed heart cries angrily out on God and of poem.
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  Speaker 7: This recording is in the public domain. Servitude by Ivor
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  Speaker 7: Gurney read for LibriVox dot Org by Ben Dowling. If
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  Speaker 7: it were not for England, who would bear this heavy
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  Speaker 7: servitude one moment more to keep a brothel sweep and
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  Speaker 7: wash the floor of filthiest hovels, when noble to compare
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  Speaker 7: with this brass cleaning life now here Now there harried
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  Speaker 7: and foolishness, scanned curiously over by fools made brazen by
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  Speaker 7: conceit and store of antique witticisms, thin and bare. Only
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  Speaker 7: the love of comrade sweetens all whose laughing spirit will
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  Speaker 7: not be outdone, as night watching men wait for the
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  Speaker 7: sun to hearten them. So eight I on such boys,
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  Speaker 7: as neither brass nor hell fire may appall, nor guns,
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  Speaker 7: nor sergeant Major's bluster and noise. End of poem. This
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  Speaker 7: recording is in the public domain. Homesickness by Ivor Gurney,
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  Speaker 7: red for LibriVox dot org by Ben Dowling. When we
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  Speaker 7: go wandering the wide air's blue spaces, bare, unhappy, exiled
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  Speaker 7: souls of men, how will our thoughts, over and over
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  Speaker 7: again return to Earth's familiar, lovely places, where the light
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  Speaker 7: with shadow ever interlaces, no blanks of bloom, nor ways
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  Speaker 7: beyond man's can where birds are and flowers as violet
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  Speaker 7: as wren, blackbird, bluebell, hedge, sparrow, tiny daisies, Oh, tiny things,
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  Speaker 7: but very stuff of soul. To us so frail, remember
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  Speaker 7: what we are. Set us not on some strange, outlandish star,
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  Speaker 7: but one caring for love. Give us a home. There
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  Speaker 7: we may wait while long ages of all content and
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  Speaker 7: frightened by vast time to come. End of poem. This
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  Speaker 7: recording is in the public domain.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: England the Mother by Ivor Gurney, read Forliveryvox dot org
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  Speaker 1: by Alan Mapstone. We have done our utmost England, terrible
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  Speaker 1: and dear task Mistress, Darling, mother and stern. The unnoticed
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  Speaker 1: nations praise us, but we turn firstly only to THEE.
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  Speaker 1: Have we done well? Say? Are you pleased? And what's
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  Speaker 1: your eyes that tell to us all secrets I see
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  Speaker 1: deep that burn with love, so long denied with tears,
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  Speaker 1: discern the scars and haggard look of all that hell.
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  Speaker 1: Thy love, Thy love shall cherish, make us whole. Where
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  Speaker 1: to the power of death's destruction is weak, Death impotent
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  Speaker 1: by boys, be mocked at who will leave unblotted in
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  Speaker 1: the soldier's soul, gold of the daffodil, the sunset streak,
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  Speaker 1: the innocence and joy of England's blue and a poem.
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  Speaker 1: This recording is in the public domain. End of Severn
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  Speaker 1: and som By Ivor Gurney