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Six Songs

Song Cycle by Henry Beaumont Walmisley (flourished 1855)

?. Then sleep, dear, sleep  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
If thou [wilt]1 ease thine heart
Of love and all its smart,
   Then sleep, dear, sleep;
And not a sorrow
   Hang any tear on your eyelashes;
   Lie still and [deep,]2
   Sad soul, until the sea-wave washes
The rim o' th' sun tomorrow,
   In eastern sky.

But [wilt]1 thou cure thine heart
Of love and all its smart,
   Then die, dear, die;
'Tis deeper, sweeter,
   Than on a rose bank to lie dreaming
   [With folded eye;]3
   And then alone, amid the beaming
Of love's stars, thou'lt meet her
   In eastern sky.

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803 - 1849), no title, appears in Death's Jest Book or The Fool's Tragedy, first published 1850

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Parry: "would'st"
2 Britten: "deep,/ With folded eye;" (moved from the second stanza)
3 Parry: "With tranced eye"; omitted by Britten (moved to the first stanza)

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
Total word count: 94
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