by Thomas Randolph (1605 - 1635)
A charm
Language: English
Our translations: GER
Quiet! Sleep! or I will make Erinnys whip thee with a snake, And cruel Rhadamanthus take Thy body to the boiling lake, Where fire and brimstones never slake; Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache, And ev'ry joint about thee quake; And therefor dare not yet to wake! Quiet, sleep! Quiet, sleep! Quiet! Quiet! Sleep! or thou shalt see The horrid hags of Tartary, Whose tresses ugly serpants be, And Cerberus shall bark at thee, And all the Furies that are three The worst is called Tisiphone, Shall lash thee to eternity; And therefor sleep thou peacefully Quiet, sleep! Quiet, sleep! Quiet!
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Randolph (1605 - 1635) [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), "A charm", op. 41 no. 4, from A Charm of Lullabies, no. 4. [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Ein Zaubersang", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Yvonne Helander
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 103