by Alfred Austin (1835 - 1913)
A sleepless night
Language: English
Within the hollow silence of the night I lay awake and listened. I could hear Planet with punctual planet chiming clear, And unto star star cadencing aright. Nor these alone: cloistered from deafening sight, All things that are made music to my ear: Hushed woods, dumb caves, and many a soundless mere, With Arctic mains in rigid sleep locked tight. But ever with this chant from shore and sea, From singing constellation, humming thought, And Life through Time's stops blowing variously, A melancholy undertone was wrought; And from its boundless prison-house I caught The awful wail of lone Eternity.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Austin (1835 - 1913), "A sleepless night", appears in Soliloquies in Song, first published 1882 [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 Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "A sleepless night", op. 115 (Three Sonnets) no. 3 (1935) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 99