Through the old city’s silence,
   Where the Abana flows,
[O]1 harken to the nightingale
   Sing lyrics to the rose!

But through the dusk no answer
   Is ever [breathed]2 or sung,
[Tho’]3 the bird’s heart with pleading
   The whole night long is wrung.

Yet well the lonely songster
   Knows that the red rose hears.
... Ah, Love, I need no answer,
   But let me see your tears!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Woodforde-Finden: "Oh,"
² Woodforde-Finden: "breath’d"
³ Woodforde-Finden: "Though"

Confirmed with The Quiet Singer and Other Poems by Charles Hanson Towne, B. W. Dodge & Company, New York 1908, Page 125.

Text Authorship:

• by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 - 1949), no title, appears in The Quiet Singer and Other Poems, in 86. A Lover in Damascus, no. 2, New York, B. W. Dodge & Company, first published 1908 [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 Amy Woodforde-Finden (1860 - 1919), "Where the Abana flows", published 1904 [ voice and piano ], from A lover in Damascus, no. 2, Boosey & Co. [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , John Glenn Paton [Guest Editor] , Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-10-03
Line count: 12
Word count: 68