by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation by Randall Jarrell (1914 - 1965)
A Variation on “To Say to Go to Sleep”
Language: English after the Unknown Language
If I could, I would sing you to sleep. I would give you my hand to keep In yours till you fell asleep, And take it away then, slowly. I would sit by you and be. In the world the dark would be deep. I would watch. And at last I would sleep. But if rain should star the stream Of your sleep, I would whisper: “See You are asleep”; and slowly, Your breath would change in your dream Till, ages and ages deep In the dark, you would say to me: “I love you.” I love you, But I am here always. Sleep now. Sleep.
Text Authorship:
- by Randall Jarrell (1914 - 1965) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Unknown Language by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), "A Variation on 'To Say To Go To Sleep'", op. 22 no. 3 (1987), from Night Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "A Variation on “To Say to Go to Sleep”", 1984 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Night Songs, no. 1, Scott Wheeler Music [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "A Variation on “To Say to Go to Sleep”", 1984 [ voice and piano ], from Singing to Sleep, no. 2, Scott Wheeler Music [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Eric Saroian
This text was added to the website: 2022-05-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 106