So I did and ‘The Rest Farm’, ‘Pipers Wood’ ‘Minsterworth all of which we shall do at Stroud on Saturday week. Perry’; This performance started with milk, went on to Perry, which was succeeded by Champagne, to end with sloe gin! Only needs much attention. Needless to say this ‘Pipers Wood’ was the last of the set, made between 4 and 5 o’clock!! one of best songs, was composed while he ‘In Flanders’, Gurney’s was in the trenches of France at Christmas, 1916, being a song of homesickness: for my hills again I’m homesick – My hills again! To see above the Severn plain Unscabbarded against the sky The blue high blade of Cotswold lie […]. Both men knew well that view, and it was to recur many times in own poems. They had shared many walks, and sailing in Gurney’s dingy at Framilode on the Severn before the war. Gurney’s Harvey is probably most remembered today for his comical poem written as a prisoner of war in Germany; but he ‘Ducks’, also penned another war poem, We set by Gurney c. ‘If Return’, 1918, which regrettably he did not complete: If we return, will England be Just England still to you and me? The place where we must earn our bread? We, who have walked among the dead, And watched the smile of agony, And seen the price of Liberty, Which we have taken carelessly
So I did ‘The Rest Farm’, ‘Pipers Wood’ and ‘Minsterworth Perry’; all of which we shall do at Stroud on Saturday week. This performance started with milk, went on to Perry, which was succeeded by Champagne, to end with sloe gin! Only ‘Pipers Wood’ needs much attention. Needless to say this was the last of the set, made between 4 and 5 o’clock!! ‘In Flanders’, one of Gurney’s best songs, was composed while he was in the trenches of France at Christmas, 1916, being a song of homesickness: I’m homesick for my hills again – My hills again! To see above the Severn plain Unscabbarded against the sky The blue high blade of Cotswold lie […]. Both men knew well that view, and it was to recur many times in Gurney’s own poems. They had shared many walks, and sailing in Gurney’s dingy at Framilode on the Severn before the war. Harvey is probably most remembered today for his comical poem ‘Ducks’, written as a prisoner of war in Germany; but he also penned another war poem, ‘If We Return’, set by Gurney c. 1918, which regrettably he did not complete: If we return, will England be Just England still to you and me? The place where we must earn our bread? We, who have walked among the dead, And watched the smile of agony, And seen the price of Liberty, Which we have taken carelessly
3613_richard_carder,_%5c'songs_of_graves%e2%80%99s_and_gurney%e2%80%99s_friends%5c'_(final).docx