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by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Translation

Cradle song
 (Sung text for setting by R. Lane)
 Matches original text
Language: English  after the English 
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming in the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
 
Sweet babe, in thy face 
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.
 
As thy softest limbs I feel
Smiles as of the morning steal 
O'er thy cheek, and o'er thy breast
Where thy little heart doth rest.
 
O the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep!
When thy little heart doth wake, 
Then the dreadful night shall break.
Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Composition:

    Set to music by Richard Bamford Lane (1933 - 2004), "Cradle song", published c1966 [ SSA chorus and piano ], NY : C. Fischer

The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on

  • a text in English by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "A cradle song", written c1793, appears in Notebook, possibly intended for Songs of Innocence
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 87

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