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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Dezső Kosztolányi (1885 - 1936)

Swiftly walk over the western wave
Language: English 
 Swiftly walk over the western wave, 
     Spirit of Night! 
 Out of the misty eastern cave, 
   Where, all the long and lone daylight, 
 Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear 
 Which make thee terrible and dear, - 
     Swift be thy flight!

 Wrap thy form in a mantle grey 
     Star-inwrought! 
 Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day, 
   Kiss her until she be wearied out, 
 Then wander o'er city and sea, and land, 
 Touching all with thine opiate wand - 
     Come, long-sought!

 When I arose and saw the dawn, 
     I sigh'd for thee; 
 When light rode high, and the dew was gone, 
   And noon lay heavy on flower and tree, 
 And the weary Day turn'd to his rest, 
 Lingering like an unloved guest, 
     I sigh'd for thee.

 Thy brother Death came, and cried, 
     "Wouldst thou me?" 
 Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed, 
   Murmur'd like a noontide bee, 
 "Shall I nestle near thy side?
 Wouldst thou me?" - And I replied, 
     "No, not thee!"

  Death will come when thou art dead, 
     Soon, too soon -
 Sleep will come when thou art fled; 
   Of neither would I ask the boon 
 I ask to thee, beloved Night -
 Swift be [thine]1 approaching flight,
     Come soon, soon!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   L. Lehrman •   E. Maconchy 

L. Lehrman sets lines 8-11
E. Maconchy sets stanza 5

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Maconchy: "thy"

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "To night" [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):

  • by David Arditti (b. 1964), "To the Night", 1985, first performed 1994, from Three Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "Night", op. 2 (Two Songs) no. 1, unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Leonard J[ordan] Lehrman (b. 1949), "A songlet on an English love note", op. 41 (1977), first performed 1979, lines 8-11 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Elizabeth Maconchy (1907 - 1994), "To the night", 1965, first performed 1966, stanza 5 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Nocturnal, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Luise von Plönnies, née Leisler (1803 - 1872) , "An die Nacht" ; composed by Adolf Jensen.
      • Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Noci", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901
  • HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Dezső Kosztolányi) , "Az Éjhez"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 35
Word count: 198

Az Éjhez
Language: Hungarian (Magyar)  after the English 
Nyugat hullámán jöjj te nagy
  és csöndes Éj!
Kelet barlangjain riadj,
hol a verőfényben kevély
s bús álmokat szőtt a kezed,
te kedves és te rettegett ─
  jöjj, ne henyélj!

Födjön csillaghímes, setét
  és bús talár!
Vakítsd meg a Nappal szemét
hajaddal, csókold holtra már,
s illese földünk megszokott
varázsló, mákonyos botod ─
  mindenki vár!

Hogy fölkeltem hajnalba ma,
  kivántalak;
gőzölt a kertek harmata,
virág, fa tikkadt lankatag
s hogy az alélt Nap fáradott,
mint únt vendég csak váratott,
  kivántalak.

Halál bátyád lágyan sugott,
  mondd, kellek-é?
Álom, hártyás-szemű hugod
úgy zümmögött, mint déli méh,
dajkáljalak, maradjak itt ─?
De szóltam én, hiába hítt,
  menj másfelé!

Jön a Halál, ha te elülsz,
  hamar, hamar ─
jön az Álom, ha elrepülsz;
vigaszt csupán tőled akar
a szívem, édes-édes Éj ─
Gyorsítsd a szárnyad, ne henyélj─
  óh, jöjj hamar!

Text Authorship:

  • by Dezső Kosztolányi (1885 - 1936), "Az Éjhez" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "To night"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-25
Line count: 35
Word count: 136

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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