How [lang]1 and dreary is the night
When I am frae my Dearie;
I restless lie frae e'en [to]2 morn
Though I were ne'er sae weary.
When I think on the [lightsome]4 days
I spent wi' [thee]5, my Dearie;
And now what [seas]6 between us [roar]7,
How can I be but eerie?
For oh, &c.
[ ... ]
How slow ye move, ye heavy hours;
[The joyless day how dreary:]8
It was na sae ye glinted by,
When I was wi' my Dearie!
For oh, &c.
Five Burns Songs , opus 43
by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867 - 1944)
1. Dearie  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song -- How lang and dreary is the night"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Jak dlouhá, smutná je ta noc"
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Comme la nuit est longue et maussade", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with Burns, Robert. Poems and Songs. Vol. VI. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14; Bartleby.com, 2001. www.bartleby.com/6/485.html.
Note: the Burns text appears in the White score as if it is a translation of the German text (or vice versa), but they are unrelated textually.
1 Beach modernizes this to "long"
2 Beach and other versions of the poem: "tae"
3 [sic] - but in some editions it is modernized to "widow'd"
4 White: "happy"
5 White: "you"
6 Beach and White: "lands"
7 Beach and White: "lie"
8 Beach and White: "As ye were wae and weary"
Glossary:
Eerie = affected with fear or dread
Glinted = passed quickly like a transient gleam
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Scottish Cradle Song
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —
3. Oh were my love yon lilac fair  [sung text checked 1 time]
O gin my Love were yon red rose
That grows upon the castle wa',
And I mysel a drap o' dew,
Into her bonnie breast to fa';
[O there, beyond expression blest,
I'd feast on beauty a' the night;
Seal'd on her silk-saft faulds to rest,
Till fley'd awa' by Phoebus' light.]1
O were my Love yon lilac fair,
Wi' purple blossoms to the spring,
And I a bird to shelter there,
When wearied on my little wing;
How I wad mourn when it was torn
By autumn wild and winter rude!
But I wad sing on wanton wing
When youthfu' May its bloom renew'd.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "O were my Love yon lilac fair"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Kéž byla bys ten vonný bez"
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 omitted by Beach.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Far awa'  [sung text checked 1 time]
Ye whom sorrow never wounded, Ye who never shed a tear, Care-untroubled, joy-surrounded, Gaudy day to you is dear. Gentle night do thou befriend me; Downy sleep, the curtain draw; Spirits kind, again attend me, Talk of him that's far awa'!
Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. My lassie
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —