Clements, John: Flower of Beauty. SATB

Words by Sydney Bell
Note: To purchase this title in the USA contact ECS Publishing.

A young man reflects on his betrothed, comparing her favourably to many aspects of nature. Clements’ sublime music seems entirely at home in the late 19^th–century English part-song genre though, in fact, it was composed as recently as 1960.

She is my slender small love,
my flow’r of beauty fair
From the whiteness of her little feet
to the shining of her hair;
More fair she is than April rain
on daffodil or tree:
She is my slender small love,
my flow’r of beauty, she.

I know she walks in the evening
down by the riverside,
And the grasses lean to kiss her robes
who soon will be my bride:
More dear to me her little head
than earth or sky or sea!
She is my slender small love,
my flow’r of beauty, she.