Up to her chamber window,
A slight wire trellis goes,
And up this Romeo's ladder
Clambers a bold white rose.

I lounge in the ilex shadows,
I see the lady lean,
Unclasping her silken girdle,
The curtain's folds between.

She smiles on her white-rose lover,
She reaches out her hand
And helps him in at the window --
I see it [where]1 I stand!

To her scarlet [lip]2 she holds him,
And kisses him many a time.
Ah me! it was he that won her
Because he dared to climb!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Chadwick: "when"
² Chadwick: "lips"

Text Authorship:

• by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836 - 1907), "Nocturne", appears in Flower and Thorn, first published 1877 [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 A. L. Barnes , "Nocturne", published 1898 [sung text not yet checked]
• by George Whitefield Chadwick (1854 - 1931), "Nocturne", published 1886 [ tenor and piano ], from Two songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Charles Henshaw Dana (1846 - 1883), "Up to her chamber window", published 1886 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "Up to her chamber window", op. 43 (Six songs) no. 5, published 1899, Boston, Schmidt [sung text not yet checked]
• by Fay Foster (1886 - 1960), "In the ilex shadows", published 1916 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leslie Louis Loth (1888 - 1974), "Romeo's ladder", published 1926 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Albert A. Mack , "Nocturne", op. 14 no. 2, published 1904 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862 - 1901), "Nocturne", op. 20 (A Book of Songs) no. 7 (1893), published 1893 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by William Henry Pommer (1851 - 1937), "Nocturne", published 1892 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Deighn Redding (1859 - 1932), "Romeo's ladder", published 1891 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917), "Up to her chamber window", op. 1, published 1882 [ high voice and piano ], Boston: Carl Prüfer [sung text not yet checked]
• by J. W. Seymour , "Nocturne", published 1887 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Adelaide Train (flourished 19th century), "The rose", published 1893 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Dudley Underhill , "Up to her chamber window", published 1896 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917) ; composed by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 89