As I lay awake in the white moonlight, I heard a faint singing in the wood, "Out of bed, Sleepyhead, Put your white foot, now; Here are we Beneath the tree Singing round the root now." I looked out of window, in the white moonlight, The leaves were like snow in the wood-- "Come away, Child, and play Light with the gnomies; In a mound, Green and round, That's where their home is." "Honey sweet, Curds to eat, Cream and frumenty, Shells and beads, Poppy seeds, You shall have plenty." But, as soon as I stooped in the dim moonlight To put on my stocking and my shoe, The sweet shrill singing echoed faintly away, And the grey of the morning peeped through, And instead of the gnomies there came a red robin To sing of the buttercups and dew.
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Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "The gnomies", appears in Songs of Childhood, first published 1902, rev. 1916 [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 J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "Sleepy head", published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Four "Songs of Childhood" [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-13
Line count: 28
Word count: 140