The Cap and Bells

Music © 1989 Stephen Savitzky. CC-by-nc-sa. Words: William Butler Yeats, from The Wind Upon the Reeds, 1899


Lyrics [pdf]

A Asus4 A
The  jester walked in  the    garden:
Asus2 A
The  garden had fallen  still;
Asus2 A Asus2
He  bade his soul  rise upw ard
D Asus2 A
And  stand on her  window- sill.

D Dsus2 D
It  rose in a straight  blue gar ment,
Asus2 A
When  owls began to  call:
Asus2 A
It had  grown wise-tongued by  thinking
D A
Of a  quiet and light foot fall;

D5 D Dsus2
But the  young queen would  not list en;
Asus2 A
She  rose in her pale night- gown;
Asus2 A Asus2
She  drew in the heavy  case ment
D A Asus2 A
And  pushed the latches  down. 

He bade his heart go to her,
When the owls called out no more;
In a red and quivering garment
It sang to her through the door.

It had grown sweet-tongued by dreaming
Of a flutter of flower-like hair;
But she took up her fan from the table
And waved it off on the air.

`I have cap and bells,' he pondered,
`I will send them to her and die';
And when the morning whitened
He left them where she went by.

She laid them upon her bosom,
Under a cloud of her hair,
And her red lips sang them a love-song
Till stars grew out of the air.

She opened her door and her window,
And the heart and soul came through,
To her right hand came the red one,
To her left hand came the blue.

They set up a noise like crickets,
A chattering wise and sweet,
And her hair was a folded flower
And the quiet of love in her feet.