"Serenade"

Serenade

He Sings

Awake, my Lady Sweetlips, 

The moon draws to the sea, 

The dew draws to the clover bloom― 

And I to thee. 

The sea will waken to the moon, 

The clover to the bee― 

Awake, my Lady Sweetlips, 

Awake to me. 

Awake, my Lady Sweetlips, 

The nightingale has ceased, 

The pale, pale petals of the dawn 

Drift up the East; 

My heart aches with the ravishment 

Of love’s sweet ecstasy― 

Awake, my Lady Sweetlips, 

Awake to me. 

Arise, my Lady Sweetlips, 

The soft hours tremble by, 

Too soon the red rose of the dawn 

Burns in the sky; 

The lark arises to the dawn, 

Singing, from off the lea― 

Arise, my Lady Sweetlips, 

Arise to me. 

"Serenade" as it appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).

"Serenade" was set to music in 1901 by composer and Yale University music theory professor Horatio Parker (1863-1919). Parker titled his composition "Awake, my Lady Sweetlips." The sheet music for the composition has not been made digitally accessible, but is preserved at the Yale University Library in the Horatio Parker Papers.