The toil of day is ebbing, The quiet comes again, In slumber deep relaxing The limbs of tired men. And minds with anguish shaken, And spirits racked with grief, The cup of all forgetting Have drunk and found relief. The still Lethean waters Now steal through every vein, And men no more remember The meaning of their pain. Let the weary body lie Sunk in slumber deep. The heart shall still remember Christ In its very sleep.
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Text Authorship:
- by Helen Jane Waddell (1889 - 1965), "Before sleep", appears in Medieval Latin Lyrics, first published 1929 [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348 - c413), "Hymnus ante somnum"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Before sleep", op. 52 no. 6, H. 186 no. 6 (1931-2) [ male voices and strings ], from Six Choruses for male voices and string orchestra, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Michael (Stockwin) Howard (1922 - 2002), "Before sleep", 1951, rev. 1973 [ voice and piano ], from The Painted Rose, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Wilfred Orr (1893 - 1976), "Hymn before sleep", 1953, published 1954 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-03-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 77