A dream

Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:

"Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me."

Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?

"I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!"

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "A dream", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 18, published 1789

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

by William Bolcom (1938-) , "A Dream", 1956-81 [soloists, madrigal group, chorus, orchestra], from Songs of Innocence, no. 18.
by (Henry) Elliot Button (1861-?) , "A dream", published 1892, from Songs of Innocence, no. 5.
by Paul A. Irby , "A dream", published c1928 [voice and piano], from Three Songs of Innocence, no. 2, London, Wellington Music Publ. Co.
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "A dream", op. 132 no. 5 (2001) [speaker and tape], from The Innocence of Experience, no. 5.

RUS Russian [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Son

Angelok ko mne sletel,
Sonnoj pelenoj odel,
Ja uvidel: mezh vetvej
Zabludilsja muravej.

On ispugom oslepljon,
Groznym mrakom okruzhjon,
I s razbitym serdcem, vdrug,
Ja uslyshal slabyj zvuk:

“Deti, deti, gde vy, gde?
Vash otec v bol'shoj bede –
Ne najti domoj mne put',
Pomogite kto-nibud'!”

Sljozy pokatilis' s shchjok.
Vdrug,  navstrechu – svetljachok.
On skazal: “Ja chasovoj,
Storozhu pokoj nochnoj,

Osveshchaju vsjo vokrug,
Chtob ne zabludilsja drug,
Sleduj, muravej za mnoj!”
I povjol jego domoj!

Show Cyrillic (Покажите текст в кириллице)
Note on Transliteration

Singable translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "Son", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

a text in English by William Blake (1757-1827) , "A dream", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 18, published 1789

Date added to the website: 2008-01-17.