Four Nights (Shove, set by R. Vaughan Williams) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


O when I shut my eyes in spring 
A choir of heaven's swans I see, 
They sail on lakes of blue, and sing 
Or shelter in a willow tree: 
They sing of peace in hear and mind 
Such as on earth you may not find. 
When I lie down in summertime 
I still can hear the scythes that smite 
the ripened flowers in their prime, 
And still can see the meadows white. 
In summertime my rest is small, 
If any rest I find at all.

In autumn, when my eyes I close 
I see the yellow stars ablaze 
Among the tangled winds that rose 
At sunset in a circled maze; 
Like armoured nights they ride the skies 
And prick the closed lids of my eyes.

But when in wintertime I sleep 
I nothing see, nor nothing hear; 
The angels in my spirit keep 
A silent watch, and being there 
They cause my soul to lie as dead 
A stream enchanted in her bed.

Authorship

Fredegond Shove (1899-1949)

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

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Four Poems by Fredegond Shove

Date added to the website: 2006-12-09.

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