by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674)
To his sweet saviour
Language: English
Night hath no wings to him that cannot sleep, And time seems then not for to fly, but creep; Slowly her chariot drives, as if that she Had broke her wheel, or crack'd her axletree. Just so it is with me, who, list'ning, pray The winds to blow the tedious night away, That I might see the cheerful, peeping day. Sick is my heart! O Saviour! do Thou please To make my bed soft in my sicknesses: Lighten my candle, so that I beneath Sleep not for ever in the vaults of death; Let me Thy voice betimes i' th' morning hear: Call, and I'll come; say Thou the when, and where. Draw me but first, and after Thee I'll run And make no one stop till my race be done.
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The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To his sweet saviour" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "To his sweet saviour", published 1972 [ counter-tenor (or mezzo-soprano or baritone) and piano or harpsichord ], from Noble Numbers, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
- by George Dyson (1883 - 1964), "Night hath no wings", 1945-9, from Quo Vadis: a Cycle of Poems, no. 4
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-15
Line count: 15
Word count: 131