The
Nightingale
Jug jug jug terew, terew, terew, terew,
chooc chooc chooc, chooc,
terew, she cries, terew, terew, tuh, shh
terew, she cries, tuh, shh
what bird so sings, jug jug jug, jug, terew, tuh shh
what bird so sings yet so does wail,
jug jug jug jug jug jug, terew.
Yet there the nightingale filled all the desert with
inviolable voice.
terew, terew, terew,
jug jug jug jug,
and still she cried,
ah…ah…
filled all the desert, filled all the desert,
the nightingale,
filled all the desert.
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves,
The grass, the thicket and the fruit tree wild;
White hawthorne and the pastoral eglantine.
I cannot see what flow’rs are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs.
KKKKK, KKKKK, tuh, shhh tuh, shhh,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves,
The grass, the thicket and the fruit tree wild;
White hawthorne and the pastoral eglantine.
Philomel, Philomel, Philomel, Philomel,
tandaradei, tandaradei,
fie fie fie,
how she would cry,
terew, terew, terew, terew, terew, terew, terew,
by and by, by and by, by and by,
Philomel with melody sing in our sweet lullaby,
tandaradei, tandaradei,
Still wouldst thou sing and I have ears in vain,
while thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad in such an
ecstasy!
Towards the end of summer the nightingale disappears
to its African winter haunts,
the nightingale, the nightingale,
The voice I hear this passing night was heard in ancient
days,
the nightingale,
Was it a vision or a waking dream?
Fled is that music,
do I wake or sleep?