The young May moon is beaming; love

The young May moon is beaming; love,
The glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love,
        How sweet to rove
        Through Morna's grove,
When the drowsy world is dreaming, love!
Then awake! The heavens look bright, my dear,
'Tis never too late for delight, [my dear,]1
        And best of all ways
        To lengthen [our]2 days
Is to steal a few hours from the night, my [dear!]3

Now all the world is sleeping, love.
But the Sage, his star-watch keeping, love,
    And I, whose star,
    More glorious far,
Is the eye from that casement peeping, love.
Then awake !—till rise of sun, my dear,
The Sage's glass we'll shun, my dear.
    Or, in watching the flight
    Of bodies of light,
He might happen to take thee for one, my dear.

Translation(s): FRE FRE GER GER

List of language codes

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Thomas Moore, A New Edition from the last London Edition, Boston: Lee and Shepard; New York: Lee, Shepard, & Dillingham, 1876.

Authorship

• by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "The young May Moon", appears in Irish Melodies [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Daniel Gilliam (b. 1978), "A night song", 2003, from Three Nocturnes, no. 2. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "A night song", stanza 1 [voice and piano], from Sentimental Ballads, no. 4. [ sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist GER GER by Émile Paladilhe.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ENG FRE FRE by Ignaz Brüll.
  • Go to the text.
    

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La jeune lune de mai", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project, and I have been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your gift is greatly appreciated.      - Emily Ezust

La jeune lune de mai

La jeune lune de mai rayonne ; amour,
La lampe du ver luisant brille,
Comme il est doux d'errer
Dans le bosquet de Morna
Quand le monde endormi rêve,amour !
Veille donc ! Le ciel semble clair, ma chère,
Il n'est jamais trop tard pour le plaisir, [ma chère,]1
Et le meilleur moyen
De prolonger [nos]2 jours
Est de voler quelques heures à la nuit, ma [chère !]3

Maintenant le monde entier dort, amour.
Sauf le Sage observant les étoiles, amour,
Et moi, dont l'étoile,
Bien plus splendide.
Est l'œil qui observe depuis cette fenêtre, amour.
Veille donc ! Jusqu'au lever du soleil, ma chère,
Fuyons la lunette du Sage, ma chère.
Ou, observant le vol
Des corps lumineux,
Il pourrait te prendre pour l'un d'eux, ma chère.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Ives.
² Ives : “les”
³ Ives : “chère,/ Quand le monde endormi rêve,amour !"

Authorship

• Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
  
  Contact:
  
  
  (licenses at lieder dot net)
  
  
  

• a text in English by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "The young May Moon", appears in Irish Melodies GER GER
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Daniel Gilliam, Charles Edward Ives. Go to the text.

Text added to the website: 2014-04-18.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:05:32
Line count: 20
Word count: 128