The Valleys

I heard it from the valleys
I heard it ringing in the mountains
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

I heard it from the valleys
I heard him singing in the mountains
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

(The rest of the lyrics are taken from the poem 'A Letter Home' by Siegfried Sassoon, written May 1916)

Robert, when I drowse to-night
Skirting lawns of sleep to chase
Shifting dreams in mazy light
Somewhere then I'll see your face
Turning back to bid me follow
Where I wag my arms and hollow
Over hedges hasting after
Crooked smile and baffling laughter
We know such dreams are true

He's come back, all mirth and glory
-Running tireless, floating, leaping
-Down your web-hung woods and valleys
-Where the glowworm stars are peeping
Like the prince in a fairy story
-Till I find you, quiet as stone
-On a hill-top all alone
-Staring outward, gravely pondering
-Jumbled leagues of hillock-wandering
Winter called him far away
-You and I have walked together
-In the starving winter weather
-We've been glad because we knew
-Time's too short and friends are few
Blossoms bring him home with May
-We've been sad because we missed
-One whose yellow head was kissed
-By the gods, who thought about him
-Till they couldn't do without him

Now he's here again
Standing in a wood that swings
To the madrigal he sings
And I'm sure, as here I stand,
That he shines through every land
That he sings in every place
Where we're thinking of his face

While we know such dreams are true