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The Moon is Like a Curlew

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A .pdf file of the sheet music is attached.

The Moon is Like a Curlew
(Words by Giles Watson. Music by Kathryn Wheeler.)

The moon is like a curlew
that flits from stone to stone:
it rose behind the crag last night
but this night, it has flown.

The moon is like a curlew:
impossible to touch,
a gleam, a voice, an echo
too shy for men to catch.

A cuckoo’s like a rumour
that walls cannot contain:
a voice no net can capture,
an intangible refrain.

A cuckoo’s like a rumour
kept by a hawthorn tree:
it comes without a warning
but never stays for me.

You cannot catch a curlew,
or cage the fickle moon;
you cannot trap a cuckoo,
and summer’s gone too soon.

Lyric by Giles Watson, 2013. Inspired by the story of ‘The Men of Lorbottle’, in Frederick Grice,Folk Tales of the North Country, London, 1944, pp. 36-39.
© 2013 - 2024 GilesWatson
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