by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
Over the edge of the purple down
Language: English
Over the edge of the purple down, Where the single lamplight gleams, Know ye the road to the Merciful Town That is hard by the Sea of Dreams -- Where the poor may lay their wrongs away, And the sick may forget to weep? But we -- pity us! Oh, pity us! We wakeful; ah, pity us! -- We must go back with Policeman Day -- Back from the City of Sleep! Weary they turn from the scroll and crown, Fetter and prayer and plough -- They that go up to the Merciful Town, For her gates are closing now. It is their right in the Baths of Night Body and soul to steep, But we -- pity us! ah, pity us! We wakeful; oh, pity us! -- We must go back with Policeman Day -- Back from the City of Sleep! Over the edge of the purple down, Ere the tender dreams begin, Look -- we may look -- at the Merciful Town, But we may not enter in! Outcasts all, from her guarded wall Back to our watch we creep: We -- pity us! ah, pity us! We wakeful; ah, pity us! -- We that go back with Policeman Day -- Back from the City of Sleep!
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Authorship:
- by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), appears in The Day's Work, in the story "The Brushwood Boy", first published 1898 [author's text not yet checked 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The City of Sleep", 2011 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "Merciful Town", 1899 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-12-28
Line count: 30
Word count: 196