Sleep
by John Fletcher
Come, Sleep, and with thy sweet deceiving
Lock me in delight awhile;
Let some pleasing dreams beguile
All my fancies; that from thence
I may feel an influence
All my powers of care bereaving.
Though but a shadow, but a sliding,
Let me know some little joy!
We that suffer long annoy
Are contented with a thought
Through an idle fancy wrought:
O let my joys have some abiding!"
sung by Sarah Connolly, accompanied by Eugene Asti, composed by Ivor Gurney. This song forms part of the set "Five Elizabethan Songs" written by Gurney in 1913.
From a recital at Wigmore Hall, London, 8 April 2010. She also performed "Sleep" at a recital in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre, New York on 14 April 2011.