The starry night shall comfort bring:
Go out upon the breezy moor;
Watch for a bird with sable [wing]2
And beak and talons dropping gore.

It will perch on a heathy swell
Against the light of the coming moon;
Then, poor wretch, thy misery tell:
Thou shalt have the wished-for boon.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Jeffreys: "wings" (in the facsimile edition) ; however, sometimes sung "wing".

Authorship

• by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), no title, written 1838 [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 John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "The lone bird" [voice and piano] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Another version of this text exists in the database.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ]
  

Researcher for this text: Peter Palmer

This text was added to the website: 2010-09-11
Line count: 8
Word count: 51