The angels are [stooping]1, above your bed;
They weary of trooping with the whimpering dead.
God's laughing in heaven to see you so good;
The [Shining]2 Seven are gay with His mood.
[I kiss you and kiss you, my pigeon my own.
Ah how I shall miss you when you have grown.]3

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
First published in Scots Observer, April 1890; revised 1901
¹ Grill: "singing"
² Ebel, Grill: "Sailing"
³ Ebel: "I sigh that kiss you, for I must own/ That I shall miss you when you have grown."; Grill: "I sigh that kiss you, for I must own/ That I shall miss you when you have gone."

Text Authorship:

• by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "A cradle song", appears in The Rose, first published 1893 [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 (Edward) Maurice Besly (1888 - 1945), "The angels are stooping, above your bed", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nicholas Douty (1870 - 1955), "A cradle song", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Chester Duncan (1913 - 2002), "A cradle song", published 1974 [ SS chorus and piano ], from Then and Now [sung text not yet checked]
• by Steven Ebel , "An angel's lullaby", 2011 [ high voice and string quartet ], from Irish Lullabies, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Richard B. Evans , "A cradle song", from In the deep heart's core [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rudolph Ganz (1877 - 1972), "The angels are stooping, above your bed", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "A Cradle Song", copyright © 1987 [ soprano and string quartet ], from To a Child, no. 4, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "A cradle song", 1920, published 1959 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "A cradle song", 1913 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Derek Healey (b. 1936), "A Cradle Song", op. 16 no. 5 (1962) [ voice and piano ], from Six Irish Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rosalie Housman (1890? - 1949), "The angels are stooping, above your bed", 1935 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Henry George Ley (1887 - 1962), "A cradle song", op. 8 no. ? [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Teresa del Riego (c1876 - 1968), "How I shall miss you", published 1914 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "The angels are stooping", 1984 [ soprano and piano ], from Song Cycle for Gina, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Owen Underhill (b. 1954), "A cradle song", 1987 [ soprano, cello, and piano ], from Yeats Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Eugene John Weigel (1910 - 1998), "A cradle song", published 1950 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], from Four songs for women's voices [sung text not yet checked]
• by Graham Whettam (b. 1927), "A cradle song", rev. 1973, first performed 1967, from Three Songs to Poems of W. B. Yeats [sung text not yet checked]
• by Magdalen S. Worder , "A cradle song", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Una ninna nanna", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Ted Perry , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 56

Si chinano gli angeli, sul tuo lettino;
stanchi della compagnia dei lamentosi morti.
Sorride Dio nel cielo, vedendoti così buono;
i Sette Risplendenti, del suo umore son lieti.
Io ti bacio e ribacio, piccioncino mio amato
come mi mancherai quando sarai cresciuto.