by
Thomas Randolph (1605 - 1635)
A charm
Language: English
Available translation(s): GER
Quiet!
Sleep! or I will make
Erinnys whip thee with a snake,
And cruel Rhadamanthus take
Thy body to the boiling lake,
Where fire and brimstones never slake;
Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache,
And ev'ry joint about thee quake;
And therefor dare not yet to wake!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
Quiet!
Sleep! or thou shalt see
The horrid hags of Tartary,
Whose tresses ugly serpants be,
And Cerberus shall bark at thee,
And all the Furies that are three
The worst is called Tisiphone,
Shall lash thee to eternity;
And therefor sleep thou peacefully
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Ein Zaubersang", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Yvonne Helander
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 103
Ein Zaubersang
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Stille!
Schlaf! Oder ich mach',
dass Erynis dich mit einer Schlange peitscht
und der grausame Rhadamanthys
deinen Leib zu einem kochenden See bringt,
wo Feuer und Schwefel nie enden;
das Herz soll dir brennen, der Kopf dir schmerzen,
und jedes Gelenk dir erzittern;
so wage bloß nicht wach zu bleiben!
Stille, schlaf!
Stille, schlaf!
Stille!
Stille!
Schlaf! Sonst kommen sie vorbei,
die gräulichen Hexen der Tartarei,
deren Locken hässliche Schlangen sind,
und der Höllenhund bellt dich an, mein Kind,
und alle Furien, davon gibt’s drei,
die schlimmste Tisiphone sei,
werden dich peitschen für alle Zeit;
drum sei zur Ruhe nun bereit.
Stille, schlaf!
Stille, schlaf!
Stille!
Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2015-09-09
Line count: 24
Word count: 106