The wild winds weep

The wild winds weep
And the night is a-cold;
Come hither, Sleep,
And my griefs unfold:
But lo! the morning peeps
Over the eastern steeps,
And the rustling birds of dawn
The earth do scorn. 

Lo! to the vault
Of paved heaven,
With sorrow fraught
My notes are driven:
They strike the ear of night,
Make weep the eyes of day;
They make mad the roaring winds,
And with tempests play. 

Like a fiend in a cloud,
With howling woe,
After night I do crowd,
And with night will go;
I turn my back to the east,
From whence comforts have increas'd;
For light doth seize my brain
With frantic pain.

by William Blake (1757-1827)

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

by Samuel Hans Adler (1928-) , "Mad song", published 1974 [mixed chorus and band], from Serenade, no. 2.
by Phillip Thomas Bezanson (1916-1975) , "Mad Song", published 1966, from Contrasts, no. 3.
by James Henry Baseden Butt (1929-) , "Mad song", op. 60 no. 4, published 1980, from Five William Blake Songs, no. 4.
by Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917-1995) , "Mad song", published 1952, first performed 1955 [high voice and orchestra], from Three Pieces after Blake, no. 2, New York, Composers Facsimile Edition and New York, C. Fischer
by John Mitchell (1941-) , "The wild winds weep", op. 1 no. 6 (1964), rev. 1977, from Seven Songs from William Blake, no. 6.
by Michael Murray , "Mad song", 2004 [soprano, horn, and piano], from The Wild Winds Weep, no. 3.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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