A Child Asleep

"A Child Asleep" is a song, with lyrics from a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It was set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in December 1909 and published in 1910 by Novello.^[1] It was first published by Browning in 1840.^[2]

It is dedicated to Anthony Goetz, the son of Ludovic Goetz and Muriel Foster, a favourite singer and personal friend of Elgar.^[1]

Lyrics

    How he sleepeth!

    Vision unto vision calleth,
        While the young child dreameth on.
    Fair, O dreamer, thee befalleth
        With the glory thou hast won!
Darker wert thou in the garden, yestermorn, by summer sun.

    We should see the spirits [rising]
        Round thee,—were the clouds away.
    'Tis the child-heart draws them, singing
        In the silent-seeming clay.
Singing!—stars that seem the mutest, go in music music all the way.

    Softly, softly! make no noises!
        Now he lieth [still] and dumb.
    Now he hears the angels' voices
        Folding silence in the room.
Now he muses deep the meaning of the Heaven-words as they come.

    He is harmless—[we] are sinful.
        [We] are troubled—he, at ease.
    From his slumber, virtue winful
        Floweth outward with increase.
Dare not bless him! but be blessèd by his peace—and go in peace.^[3]

— Stanza I, line 1a; stanzas IV, V, IX, and XII

References

^ ^a ^b Kennedy, Michael (1987). Portrait of Elgar (Third ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 350. ISBN 0-19-284017-7.
^ Browning, Elizabeth Barrett; Preston, Harriet Waters (1900). The Complete Poetical Works of Mrs. Browning. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 155–156.
^ Text taken from: Barrett Browning, Elizabeth (1856). Poems. Vol. 2 (4th ed.). London: Chapman & Hall. pp. 150-153., showing Elgar's alterations in [brackets], according to: "How he sleepeth! having drunken (Browning, set by Edward Elgar, Sir, Rudolph T. Werther)". www.lieder.net. Retrieved 30 December 2019.