Sailor's Carol

            Words: Charles Causley; Music & Arrangement © Gordon Bok

           

            Kate Barnes of Appleton, Maine, sent me this poem.  After thinking about it for a couple of years I spent the corners of a winter working out this tune and arranging it for the chorus.  The Quasi Modals, of course, helped me sort out the problems (we're still working on that part.)

Gordon and Quasi Modal Chorus.

 

 

            Lord, the snowful sky

            In this pale December

            Fingers my clear eye

            Lest seeing I remember

 

            Not the naked baby

            Weeping in the stable

            Nor the singing boys

            All round my table.

           

            Not the dizzy star

            Bursting on the pane

            Nor the leopard sun

            Pawing the rain

           

            Only the deep garden

            Where green lilies grown

            And the sailors rolling

            In the sea's blue snow.

 

Sailor's Carol  is recorded on the album Schooners