Come, heavy Sleep, the image of true Death,
And close up these my weary weeping eyes,
Whose spring of tears doth stop my vital breath,
And tears my heart with Sorrow's sigh-swoll'n cries.
Come and possess my tired through-worn soul,
That living dies till thou on me be stole.
...
Note for stanza 2, line 1: retired countertenor David Hill writes that for the Dowland song this should in fact read: 'Come shadow of my end and shape of rest'. The old Stainer & Bell edition of Edmund Fellowes is still published with this lyrical transposition because Fellowes swapped the phrases around to try to make the syllables of the second stanza fit the number of printed notes, even though to do so destroys the rhyme sequence. Mr. Hill emphasizes that it is perfectly easy to sing this as written with a bit of ingenuity.
Composition:
- Set to music by Robert Johnson (c1583 - 1633), "Come heavy sleep", stanza 1 [ treble voice and lute ]
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Mercedes Vivas) , "Ven, Sueño pesado", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 101