by William Sharp (1855 - 1905)
Nightingale Lane
Language: English
Down through the thicket, out of the hedges,
A ripple of music singeth a tune . . .
Like water that falls
From mossy ledges
With a soft low croon:
Soon
It will cease!
No, it falls but to rise -- but to rise -- but to rise!
It is over the thickets, it leaps in the trees,
It swims like a star in the purple-black skies!
Ah, once again,
With its rapture and pain,
The nightingale singeth under the moon!
Text Authorship:
- by William Sharp (1855 - 1905), "Nightingale Lane", appears in Poems, first published 1912 [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):
- by Alice Barnett (1886 - 1975), "Nightingale Lane", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Benjamin (1893 - 1960), "Nightingale Lane", c1937 [ duet for 2 voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "Nightingale Lane", op. 70 (Twenty-Five Songs in Five Sets of Five Each: Set IV) no. 2 (1927) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-18
Line count: 13
Word count: 79