By Night When Others Soundly Slept David Horace Davies (b. 1979)
Text by Anne Bradstreet
Bradstreet’s poem is written as a mid-night prayer for her sleeping family. In choosing this particular poem, the composer writes that he was inspired by the experiences of his mother and his mother-in-law, who, like Bradstreet, often find themselves awake at night and engaged in prayer over concerns for their children and family.
By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and rest
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best
I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow’d his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.
My hungry Soul he fill’d with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banish thence my doubts and fears.
What to my savior shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I’ll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Love him to Eternity.