by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

The night is calm and cloudless
Language: English 
The night is [calm]1 and cloudless,
And still as still can be,
And the stars come forth to listen

To the music of the sea.
They gather, and gather, and gather,
Until they crowd the sky,
And listen, in breathless silence,
To the solemn litany.

It begins in rocky caverns,
As a voice that chaunts alone
To the pedals of the organ
In monotonous undertone ;

And anon from shelving beaches,
And shallow sands beyond.
In snow-white robes uprising
The ghostly choirs respond.

And sadly and unceasing
The mournful voice sings on,
And the snow-white choirs still answer
Christe eleison!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Boott: "clear"; further changes may exist not noted above.

Text Authorship:

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


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-06-20
Line count: 20
Word count: 99