Mountain Dulcimer

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

American poetry

Dulcimer--Poetry

Animals--Poetry

Dulcimer

Still, James, 1906-2001

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

Mountain Dulcimer

The dulcimer sings from fretted maple throat
Of the doe’s swift poise, the fox’s fleeting step
And music of hounds upon the outward slope
Stirring the night, drumming the ridge-strewn ay,
The anvil’s strength - - - and the silence after
That aches & cries unhushed into the day.

From the dulcimer’s breast sound hunting horns
Strong as clenched hands upon the edge of death,
The creak of saddlebags, of oxen yoke & thongs
Wild turkey’s treble, dark sudden flight of crows,
Of unshod hoofs - - - - and the stillness after,
Butter as salt drenching the tongue of pain

And the lambs crying, breath of the lark,
Long drinks from piggins – hard against the lips,
And with hoarse singing, raw as hickory shagbark,
The foal’s anxiety is woven with the straining wedge,
And the wasp’s anger - - - and the quiet after
For the carver of maple on a keen blade’s edge

(anonymous)

1935-07

113_MountainDulcimer