by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909)
Love and sleep
Language: English
Lying asleep between the strokes of night I saw my love lean over my sad bed, Pale as the duskiest lily’s leaf or head, Smooth-skinned and dark, with bare throat made to bite, Too wan for blushing and too warm for white, But perfect-coloured without white or red. And her lips opened amorously, and said – I wist not what, saving one word – Delight. And all her face was honey to my mouth, And all her body pasture to mine eyes; The long lithe arms and hotter hands than fire, The quivering flanks, hair smelling of the south, The bright light feet, the splendid supple thighs And glittering eyelids of my soul’s desire.
Text Authorship:
- by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909), "Love and sleep", written c1866 [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):
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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Gabriel Mourey (1865 - 1943) , "Amour et sommeil", appears in Poèmes et Ballades, Paris, Éd. Stock, first published 1922 ; composed by Henri-Pierre Poupard, as Henri Sauguet.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-01-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 114