Performed on Saturday 4th November by Christopher O’Gorman (TENOR) & David Pipe (PIANO) at Late Music Concerts, York. Programme curated by Professor John Goodby and Associate Professor David Lancaster called 'Singing Dylan Thomas:
I sang in my chains like the sea'.



Ilex or holly is a woody evergreen shrub associated with unconditional love, wise decisions, immortality, tenacity of life, and cycles of growth. Often used as part of Christmas decorations as a symbol of Christ’s crown of thorns and the crimson berries as a symbol of his blood, is used at this time to remind Christians of death and rebirth. In the spring, holly has white four-petaled flowers which could be it’s ‘snowy breast’, a symbol of hope and purity. (HJ)

You hold the ilex by its stem
And touch its petals one by one;
You make them glad and tender them
With lifted fingers to the sun.

The flower will not join the sky;
It was the oracle that told
You how the stem and leaves should lie,
Stem close to white, and leaf to gold.

And now the sun denies it rest,
You will have tears to carry bearer.

The ilex has a snowy breast;
There is not any flower fairer.

Recorded by Jude Clark

You Hold The Ilex By Its Stem (WP)

Lecturer of Music and Education at Sunderland University, composer, cunductor and researcher.  

This selection of work spans my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and now my professional endeavors.

My work tends to draw upon literature, history, myth etc. with strong programmatic elements.  These are just examples of instrumental works.

You Hold The Ilex By Its Stem (WP)

Hayley A Jenkins