Night is over the park, and a few brave stars
      Look on the lights that link it with chains of gold,
The lake bears up their reflection in broken bars
      That seem too heavy for tremulous water to hold.

We watch the swans that sleep in a shadowy place,
      And now and again one wakes and uplifts its head;
[How still you are -- your gaze is on my face --]1
      We watch the swans and never a word is said.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Kramer: "How still you are, your gaze upon my face,"

Text Authorship:

• by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Swans", appears in Rivers to the Sea, first published 1915 [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 Arthur Walter Kramer (1890 - 1969), "Swans", op. 44 no. 4, published 1917 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Dagmar de Corval Rybner (1890 - 1965), "Swans", published 1918 [ voice and piano ], also set in French [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-04
Line count: 8
Word count: 81