Why fades a dream?

Why fades a dream?
  An iridescent ray
Flecked in between the tryst
  Of night and day.
  Why fades a dream? -- 
Of consciousness the shade
Wrought out by lack of light and made
  Upon life's stream.
  Why fades a dream?

That thought may thrive,
  So fades the fleshless dream;
Lest men should learn to trust
  The things that seem.
  So fades a dream,
That living thought may grow
And like a waxing star-beam glow
  Upon life's stream -- 
  So fades a dream.

Submitted by Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Authorship

• by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906), "Why fades a dream?", appears in Majors and Minors, first published 1895 [ 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 Gary Bachlund , "Why fades a dream?", 2009. [medium voice and piano] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Wynn Leo Boyd (b. 1902), "Why fades a dream?", published 1964 [voice and piano], in American Art Songs [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Marie F. Busch , "Why fades a dream?", published 1954. [medium-high voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]

Text added to the website: 2008-07-27.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:49
Line count: 18
Word count: 80

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

Browse imslp.org (Petrucci Music Library) for Lieder or choral works