The young May moon is beaming; love,
The glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love,
        How sweet to rove
        Through Morna's grove,
When the drowsy world is dreaming, love!
Then awake! The heavens look bright, my dear,
'Tis never too late for delight, [my dear,]1
        And best of all ways
        To lengthen [our]1 days
Is to steal a few hours from the night, my [dear!]2

Now all the world is sleeping, love.
But the Sage, his star-watch keeping, love,
    And I, whose star,
    More glorious far,
Is the eye from that casement peeping, love.
Then awake ! — till rise of sun, my dear,
The Sage's glass we'll shun, my dear.
    Or, in watching the flight
    Of bodies of light,
He might happen to take thee for one, my dear.

C. Ives sets stanza 1

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Thomas Moore, A New Edition from the last London Edition, Boston: Lee and Shepard; New York: Lee, Shepard, & Dillingham, 1876.

¹ omitted by Ives
² Ives: "my dear,/ When the drowsy world is dreaming, love!"

Text Authorship:

• by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "The young May Moon", appears in Irish Melodies [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 Daniel Gilliam (b. 1978), "A night song", 2003, from Three Nocturnes, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "A night song", stanza 1 [ voice and piano ], from Sentimental Ballads, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Émile Paladilhe.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Ignaz Brüll.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La jeune lune de mai", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 127