Sleep, sleep Sleep, my darling sleep; Sleep, my darling, sleep; The pity of it all is all we compass if We watch disaster fall. Put off your twenty odd Encumbered years and creep Into the only heaven, The robbers cave of sleep. Sleep, sleep, sleep. The wild grass will whisper, Lights of passing cars Will streak across your dreams And fumble at the stars; Life will tap the window Only to soon again Life will have her answer Do not ask her when. When the winsome bubble Shivers, when the bough Braks, will be the moment But not here of now. Sleep and [a]sleep, forget, The watchers on the wall Awake all night who know The pity of it all. Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, my darling, sleep.
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Text Authorship:
- by Louis MacNeice (1907 - 1963) [author's text not yet checked 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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Cradle song" [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Christian Baur
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 127