Shall we roam, my love, To the twilight grove, When the moon is rising bright? Oh, I'll whisper there, In the cool night air, What I dare not in broad daylight! I'll tell thee a part Of the thoughts that start To being when thou art nigh; And thy beauty, more bright Than the stars' soft light, Shall seem as a weft from the sky. When the pale moonbeam On tower and stream Sheds a flood of silver sheen, How I love to gaze As the cold ray strays O'er thy face, my heart's throned queen! Wilt thou roam with me To the restless sea, And linger upon the steep, And list to the flow Of the waves below How they toss and roar and leap? Those boiling waves, And the storm that raves At night o'er their foaming crest, Resemble the strife That, from earliest life, The passions have waged in my breast. Oh, come then, and rove To the sea or the grove, When the moon is rising bright, And I'll whisper there, In the cool night air, What I dare not in broad daylight.
About the headline (FAQ)
This poem might have been written by James Augustus St. John and published as a hoax, according to The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Volume 1, ed. by Donald H. Reiman and Neil Fraistat, Baltimore and London, The John Hopkins University Press, 2000. A discussion of the evidence for this position appears in the section "Lost Works" at the very end of the book (no pagination could be seen in Google Books).
Text Authorship:
- possibly by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "To the Queen of my Heart"
- possibly by James Augustus St. John (1795 - 1875), "To the Queen of my Heart"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by A. (Alfred or Arthur?) Herbert Brewer (1865 - 1928), "Queen of my heart", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], London, Novello, in The Orpheus, New Series, No. 539 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Delius (1862 - 1934), "To the Queen of my Heart", 1891, published 1892, from Three Songs, the words by Shelley, no. 3, also set in German as "An meines Herzens Königin" [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Caspara Preezmann (1792 - 1876) , "Til mit Hjertes Dronning", appears in Hundrede Digte ved Caralis, first published 1867 ; composed by Agathe Ursula Backer-Grøndahl, Carl Nielsen.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) , "Царице моего сердца" ; composed by Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 36
Word count: 187
Skal vi vandre en Stund I den dæmrende Lund, [Mens]1 Fuldmaanen hist holder Vagt, Jeg vil hviske, min Skat, I den kjølige Nat, Hvad jeg aldrig ved Dagen fik sagt. Jeg ved Stjernenes Skjær, Skal betro Dig en Hær Af Tanker, som aldrig fik Ord, Imens Nathimlens Glands, Som en [straalende]2 Krands, Om din luftige Skjønhed sig snor. Og naar Maanen fra Sky Over Marker og By Udgyder sin sølverne Flod, Vil mig fængsle dens Skin Paa din Pande, din Kind, Vil jeg knæle iløn ved din Fod. Vil Du dele min Drøm Ved den brusende Strøm, Gynge med mig paa Bølgernes Top? Lytte, Bryst imod Bryst, Til den selsomme Røst Som fra Dybet hæver sig op? Ak! som Bølgernes Tog, Naar dem Stormvinden jog, Midt i Natten, mod knusende Kyst, Saadan var jo den Strid Som fra tidligste Tid Har raset her i mit Bryst. Lad os sværme en Stund Da ved Sø og i Lund, [Mens]1 Fuldmaanen hist holder Vagt! Jeg vil hviske, min Skat! I den kølige Nat, Hvad jeg aldrig ved Dagen fik sagt.
A. Backer-Grøndahl sets stanzas 1-3, 6
Confirmed with Hundrede Digte ved Caralis, Chr. Steen & Søns Forlag, Kbh., 2. opl., 1867, pp. 163–164.
1 Backer-Grøndahl: "Medens"2 Backer-Grøndahl: "sølverne"
Text Authorship:
- by Christian Preezmann (1822 - 1893), as Caralis, "Til mit Hjertes Dronning", appears in Hundrede Digte ved Caralis, first published 1867 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English possibly by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822) and possibly by James Augustus St. John (1795 - 1875)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Agathe Ursula Backer-Grøndahl (1847 - 1907), "Til mit hjertes dronning", op. 1 (Tre Sange) no. 3, published 1872, stanzas 1-3,6 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Carl Nielsen (1865 - 1931), "Til mit hjertes dronning", 1887 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Joost van der Linden) , "Aan de koningin van mijn hart", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-06-21
Line count: 36
Word count: 178