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by Jeremiah Joseph Callanan (1795 - 1829)

Serenade
Language: English 
The blue waves are sleeping;
    The breezes are still;
The light dews are weeping
    Soft tears On the hill;
The moon in mild beauty,
    Looks bright from above;
Then come to the casement,
    Oh Mary my love.

Not a sound, or a motion
      Is over the lake,
But the whisper of ripples,
    As shoreward they break;
My skiff wakes no ruffle
    The waters among,
Then listen dear maid
    To thy true lover’s song.

No form from the lattice
    Did ever recline,
Over Italy’s waters,
    More lovely than thine;
Then come to the window
    And shed from above,
One glance of thy dark eye,
    One smile of thy love.

Oh! the soul of that eye
    When it breaks from its shroud,
Shines beauteously but,
    Like the Moon from a cloud;
And thy whisper of love
    Breathed thus from afar,
Is sweeter to me
    Than the sweetest guitar.

From the storms of this world
    How gladly I’d fly,
To the calm of that breast,
    To the heaven of that eye;
How deeply I love thee
    ’Twere useless to tell;
Farewell then my dear one,
    My Mary, farewell.

Text Authorship:

  • by Jeremiah Joseph Callanan (1795 - 1829), "Serenade" [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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Christian Preezmann (1822 - 1893) , "Serenade" ; composed by Orla Albert Vilhelm Rosenhoff.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-10-22
Line count: 40
Word count: 185

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