Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee,
The shooting stars attend thee;
    And the elves also,
    Whose little eyes glow
Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.

No Will-o'th'-Wisp mislight thee;
Nor snake, or slow-worm bite thee:
    But on, on thy way
    Not making a stay,
Since ghost there's none to affright thee.

Let not the dark thee cumber:
What though the moon does slumber?
    The stars of the night
    Will lend thee their light,
Like tapers clear without number.

Then Julia let me woo thee,
Thus, thus to come unto me;
    And when I shall meet
    Thy silv'ry feet,
My soul I'll pour into thee.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Hesperides and Noble Numbers, edited by Alfred Pollard, with a preface by A.C. Swinburne, Volume II, London: Lawrence and Bullen; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891, pages 17-18.

Authorship

• by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "The Night Piece, to Julia", appears in The Hesperides [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 (William) Havergal Brian (1876 - 1972), "The Night Piece", 1910, published c1933, first performed 1928 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mary Grant Carmichael (1851 - 1935), "The Night Piece, to Julia", published 1890 [ voice and piano ], London: Metzler & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Miriam Gideon (1906 - 1996), "The shooting starres attend thee", 1987 [ high voice, flute, violin, violoncello ], from The shooting starres attend thee, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Horatio William Parker (1863 - 1919), "Night piece to Julia", op. 10 no. 2, published 1886 [ voice and piano ], from Three Love Songs, no. 2, Boston : Schmidt; first published as op. 14 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "The Night Piece", op. 8 no. 4 (1905), published 1906 [ voice and piano ], from To Julia, no. 4, London, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this text: Paul Hindemith , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2005-04-18
Line count: 20
Word count: 105