Love laid his sleepless head
On a thorny [rosy bed]1;
And his eyes with tears were red,
And pale his lips as the dead.

And fear and sorrow and scorn
Kept watch by his head forlorn,
Till the night was overworn
And the [world]2 was merry with morn.

And Joy came up with the day
And kissed Love's lips as he lay,
And the watchers ghostly and grey
Sped from his pillow away.

And his eyes as the dawn grew bright,
And his lips waxed ruddy as light:
Sorrow may reign for a night,
But day shall bring back delight.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
First published in Examiner, December 1874
¹ Herbert: "rosebed"
² Walton: "day"

Text Authorship:

• by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909), "Song" [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 Florence Newell Barbour (1867 - 1946), "Joy came with the day", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hastings Crossley (1846 - ?), "Song", published <<1919 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Victor Herbert (1859 - 1924), "Love laid his sleepless head", published 1907 [ voice and piano ], from Two Songs by Algernon Charles Swinburne, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Arthur Sullivan, Sir (1842 - 1900), "Love laid his sleepless head" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Walton (1902 - 1983), "Song", 1918, first performed 1992, from Four Early Songs [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Dezső Kosztolányi) , "Álmatlan szerelem"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-27
Line count: 16
Word count: 102