Good night (Aldrich, set by C. Caverly, A. Goldsborough, A. Pease, A. Thayer, M. White) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Good-night! I have to say good-night
To such a host of peerless things!
Good-night unto the slender hand
All queenly with its weight of rings;
Good-night to fond, uplifted eyes,
Good-night to chestnut braids of hair,
Good-night unto the perfect mouth,
And all the sweetness nestled there -
  The snowy hand detains me, then 
  I 'll have to say Good-night again!
  
But there will come a time, my love,
When, if I read our stars aright,
I shall not linger by this porch
With my farewells. Till then, good-night!
You wish the time were now? And I.
You do not blush to wish it so?
You would have blushed yourself to death
To own so much a year ago -
  What, both these snowy hands! ah, then
  I 'll have to say Good-night again!

Authorship

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)

The Ballad of Babie Bell and Other Poems

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

Cecil M. Caverly

Arthur T. Goldsborough

Alfred Humphries (or Humphreys) Pease (1838-1882)

Arthur Wilder Thayer (1857-1934)

Maude Valérie White (1855-1937)

Date added to the website: 2004-02-09.

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