O soft embalmer of the still midnight!
  Shutting with careful fingers and benign
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, embower'd from the light,
  Enshaded in forgetfulness divine;
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close
  In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes,
Or wait the "Amen" ere thy poppy throws
  Around my bed its lulling charities.
  Then save me, or the passèd day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes, -
  Save me from curious Conscience, that still [lords]1
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like [a]2 mole;
  Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,
And seal the hushèd Casket of my Soul.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
First published in a Plymouth newspaper in 1838
¹ changed to "hoards" by Richard Woodhouse, and kept by Keats in the second transcription. Chávez uses this version.
² changed to "the" in Keats' second transcription. Chávez uses this as well.

Text Authorship:

• by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "To Sleep", written 1819? [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), "Sleep", published 1922 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London : Curwen [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Sonnet", op. 31 no. 6 (1943), published 1944, first performed 1943 [ tenor, horn, and strings or piano ], from Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, no. 6, London : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "To Sleep", published 1954 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], NY : Galaxy [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carlos Chávez (1899 - 1978), "Sonnet to Sleep", published 1946 [ SSAATTBB chorus a cappella ], from Three Nocturnes, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ellen Dickson (1819 - 1878), as Dolores, "Sleep", published 1860 [ voice and piano ], London; note: this may be the wrong poem for this title [sung text not yet checked]
• by David M. Epstein (1930 - 2002), "To Sleep", published 1963 [ soprano and strings ], from Four Songs, NY : Carl Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987), "To Sleep", op. 61 no. 3 (1953?), published 1954 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Four Part-Songs, no. 3, Boosey & Hawkes, London [sung text not yet checked]
• by Scott Gendel (b. 1977), "To sleep", 2000 [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Keats Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Michael Karp , "To Sleep", published 1978 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Bernard James Naylor (1907 - 1986), "To Sleep", published 1952 [ voice and piano ], London : Augener [sung text not yet checked]
• by Solomon Pimsleur (1900 - 1962), "Sleep", 1927-8 [ SATB quartet or chorus and string quartet or orchestra ], from Sonnet-Tableau [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958), "Song to Sleep", published 1936 [ voice and piano ], London : Edward Arnold [sung text not yet checked]
• by Egon Joseph Wellesz (1885 - 1974), "To Sleep", published 1965 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert B. Whitcomb (b. 1921), "To Sleep", 1952-3 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Two Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
• by Donald H. White (1921 - 2016), "Sonnet", published 1979 [ narrator followed by symphonic band ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by (James) Healey Willan (1880 - 1968), "Sonnet -- To Sleep", published 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], London : Frederick Harris [sung text not yet checked]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , "Sonnet", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Sonett an den Schlaf", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
• NYN Norwegian (Nynorsk) (Are Frode Søholt) , "Sonnette", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , "Soneto"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 103

¡Oh suave embalsamador de la quieta medianoche!
Cerrando con cuidadosos y benignos dedos
Nuestros oscurecidos ojos, huídos de la luz,
Ensombrecidos en olvido divino;
¡Oh Sueño más calmante! Si así lo deseas, cierra
En medio de este pequeño himno mis obedientes ojos,
O espera al "Amén" antes de que tu sopor arroje
Alrededor de mi cama sus adormecedoras bondades.
Luego sálvame, o el día concluido resplandecerá
Sobre mi almohada, engendrando muchas aflicciones,-
Sálvame de la curiosa Conciencia, que aún impone
Su poder sobre la oscuridad, escarbando como un topo;
Cierra hábilmente la llave en la aceitada cerradura,
Y sella el silenciado cofre de mi Alma.