Dream‑Love

Young Love lies sleeping
 In May-time of the year,
Among the lilies,
 Lapped in [the]1 tender light:
White lambs come grazing,
 White doves come building there;
And round about him
 The May-bushes are white.

Soft moss the pillow
 For oh, a softer cheek;
Broad leaves cast shadow
 Upon the heavy eyes:
There winds and waters
 Grow lulled and scarcely speak;
There twilight lingers
 The longest in the skies.

Young Love lies dreaming;
 But who [shall]2 tell the dream?
A perfect sunlight
 On rustling forest tips;
Or perfect moonlight
 Upon a rippling stream;
Or perfect silence,
 Or [song]3 of cherished lips.

Burn odours round him
 To fill the drowsy air;
Weave silent dances
 Around him to and fro;
For oh, in waking
 The sights are not so fair,
And song and silence
 Are not like these below.

Young Love lies dreaming
 Till summer days are gone,-
Dreaming and drowsing
 Away to perfect sleep:
He sees the beauty
 Sun hath not looked upon,
And tastes the fountain
 Unutterably deep.

Him perfect music
 Doth hush unto his rest,
And thro' the pauses
 The perfect silence calms:
Oh poor the voices
 Of earth from east to west,
And poor earth's stillness
 Between her stately palms.

Young Love lies drowsing
 Away to poppied death;
Cool shadows deepen
 Across the sleeping face:
So fails the summer
 With warm, delicious breath;
And what hath autumn
 To give us in its place?

Draw close the curtains
 Of branched evergreen;
Change cannot touch them
 With fading fingers sere:
Here the first violets
 Perhaps will bud unseen,
And a dove, may be,
 Return to nestle here.

Young Love lies sleeping,
And round about him
The May bushes are white.

by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) , "Dream-Love", from A Welcome: Original contributions in poetry and prose, published 1863

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Jean Coulthard (1908-2000) , "Dream love" [voice and piano], from Christina Songs, no. 2, stanzas 1-3
by Percy Eastman Fletcher (1879-1932) , "Dream-Love", published 1921. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Sir Arthur Somervell (1863-1937) , "Young Love lies sleeping", published 1901, stanzas 1,3,8 [voice and piano], from Love in Spring-Time, no. ?

Date added to the website: 2009-07-12.

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