From the recording Sing a Song of Seasons
Composed by Robert Rogler
Lauren Florek: Soprano
Matt Savage: Piano
Artistic Director: Dr. Richard Romiti
Recording Engineer: Antonio Oliart
Studio Engineer: Téa Mottolese
Album Artwork: Julia Rogler
Produced by The Rogler Collection
Recorded at the WGBH Fraser Performance Studio, Boston, MA from 19 April to 26 June 2023.
Special thanks to Matthew Rogler, Yunona Tabala, Hannah Eckert, and Mary Kate DeSantis.
Lyrics
The Chimney Sweeper
(poem by William Blake)
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,
"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.