by Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols (1893 - 1944)
O Nightingale, my heart
Language: English
O Nightingale, my heart, How sad thou art ! How heavy is thy wing, Desperately whirred that thy throat may fling Song to the tingling silences remote ! Thine eye, whose ruddy spark Burned fiery of late, How dead and dark ! Why so soon didst thou sing, And with such turbulence of love and hate ? Learn that there is no singing yet can bring The expected dawn more near ; And thou art spent already, though the night Scarce has begun; What voice, what eyes, wilt thou have for the light When that light shall appear, And O what wings to bear thee t'ward the sun ?
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols (1893 - 1944), no title, appears in Aurelia & Other Poems, in Swansong, no. 2 [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 (Philip) Christian Darnton (1905 - 1981), "O Nightingale, my heart", 1935 [soprano and orchestra], from Swan Song, no. 2. [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-07
Line count: 17
Word count: 109