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by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)

Lights out
 (Sung text for setting by I. Gurney)
 See original
Language: English 
I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way, however straight
Or winding, soon or late;
They can not choose.

 ... 

Here love ends ---
Despair, ambition ends;
All pleasure and all trouble,
Although most sweet or bitter,
Here ends, in sleep that is sweeter
Than tasks most noble.

There is not any book
Or face of dearest look
That I would not turn from now
To go into the unknown
I must enter, and leave, alone,
I know not how.

 ... 

Composition:

    Set to music by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Lights out", 1919, published 1924, stanzas 1,3-4 [ voice and piano ], from Lights Out, no. 4, first published alone in 1924 in The London Mercury, then in 1926 with the rest of the set

Text Authorship:

  • by Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917), "Lights out"

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: David Kenneth Smith

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 140

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