by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)
Serenade
Language: English
So sweet the hour, so calm the time I feel it more than half a crime, When Nature sleeps and stars are mute, To mar the silence ev'n with lute. At rest on ocean's brilliant dyes An image of Elysium lies: Seven Pleiades entranced in Heaven Form in the deep another seven: Endymion nodding from above Sees in the sea a second love. Within the valleys dim and brown, And on the spectral mountain's crown, The wearied light is dying down, And earth, and stars, and sea, and sky Are redolent of sleep, as I Am of thee and thine Enthralling love, my Adeline. But list, O list, - so soft and low Thy lover's voice tonight shall flow, That, scarce awake, thy soul shall deem My words the music of a dream. Thus, while no single sound too rude Upon thy slumber shall intrude, Our thoughts, our souls -- O God above! In every deed shall mingle, love.
Authorship:
- by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), "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):
- by Derek Healey (b. 1936), "Serenade", op. 123 no. 7 (2010) [ high voice and piano ], from Thy Distant Fire: an Edgar Allan Poe Songbook, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Warner Hutchinson , "Serenade", 1996 [ soprano, horn and vibraphone ], from Poe Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Martin Jahn
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-30
Line count: 25
Word count: 158