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by Abram Joseph Ryan (1838 - 1886)
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Out of the silences wake me a song
Language: English 
Chosen for Diff
Out of the silences wake me a song,
Beautiful, sad, and soft, and low;
Let the loveliest music sound along,
And wing each note with a wail of woe:
    Dim and drear
    As hope's last tear;
Out of the silences wake me a hymn,
Whose sounds are like shadows soft and dim.

Out of the stillness in your heart --
A thousand songs are sleeping there --
Wake me a song, thou child of art!
The song of a hope in a last despair:
    Dark and low,
    A chant of woe;
Out of the stillness, tone by tone,
Cold as a snowflake, low as a moan.

Out of the darkness flash me a song,
Brightly dark and darkly bright;
Let it sweep as a lone star sweeps along
The mystical shadows of the night:
    Sing it sweet;
Where nothing is drear, or dark, or dim,
And earth-song soars into heavenly hymn.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Abram Joseph Ryan (1838 - 1886) [author's text not yet checked 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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Judith Herrington.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-06
Line count: 23
Word count: 149

Awake, My Soul, And Sing!
Language: English  after the English 
Chosen for Diff
Cantate dominum 
canticum novum, 
awake my soul and sing. 
Out of silence sad and low 
out of still and shadowed night 
out of darkness vast and deep
finding a song of light
Sing with the symphony of stars
Sing with the laughing dancing seas
Sing with the spirit of the wind
filled with love's melodies
Awake my soul and sing.

Inspired by: Joseph Ryan's Wake me a song

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by Abram Joseph Ryan (1838 - 1886)
    • 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):

  • by Judith Herrington , "Awake, My Soul, And Sing!", published 2022 [ satb chorus and piano ], Pavane Publishing
        Publisher: Pavane Publishing [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-06
Line count: 12
Word count: 60

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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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