1983

Spring Song

Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar Song Collection

"Spring Song" is part of Zenobia Powell Perry's song cycle Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Audio

“Spring Song” (from “Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar”)
Minnita Daniel Cox and Marcía Porter, sopranos, Alexis Davis-Hazell, mezzo-soprano and Rosalyn Wright Floyd, piano1:59

Zenobia Powell Perry, arranged by Khyle Wooten

Composer

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

This recording was part of a 8pm concert ("My Sister’s Keeper") on Friday, October 14, 2022 during the 25th Anniversary African American Art Song Alliance Conference. The concert venue was Winifred Smith Hall at the University of California, Irvine.

Text

Spring Song
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

A blue-bell springs upon the ledge,
A lark sits singing in the hedge;
Sweet perfumes scent the balmy air,
And life is brimming everywhere.
What lark and breeze and bluebird sing,
Is Spring, Spring, Spring!

No more the air is sharp and cold;
The planter wends across the wold,
And, glad, beneath the shining sky
We wander forth, my love and I.
And ever in our hearts doth ring
This song of Spring, Spring!

For life is life and love is love,
‘Twixt maid and man or dove and dove.
Life may be short, life may be long,
But love will come, and to its song
Shall this refrain for ever cling
Of Spring, Spring, Spring!

Video