by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903)
Sleeping down the golden hours!
Language: English
Come where my Lady lies, Sleeping down the golden hours! Cover her with flowers. Bluebells from the clearings, Flag-flowers from the rills, Wildings from the lush hedgerows, Delicate daffodils, Sweetlings from the formal plots, Bloomkins from the bowers -- Heap them round her where she sleeps, Cover her with flowers! Sweet-pea and pansy, Red hawthorn and white; Gilliflowers --like praising souls; Lilies --lamps of light: Nurselings of what happy winds, Suns, and stars, and showers! Joylets good to see and smell -- Cover her with flowers! Like to sky-born shadows Mirrored on a stream, Let their odours meet and mix And waver through her dream! Last, the crowded sweetness Slumber overpowers, And she feels the lips she loves Craving through the flowers!
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Text Authorship:
- by William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1903), no title, appears in Hawthorn and Lavender with Other Verses, in Hawthorn and Lavender, no. 15, first published 1901 [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 Ernest Walker (1870 - 1949), "Bluebells from the clearings", published 1904. [low voice and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-19
Line count: 27
Word count: 120