A Little Night Music

Open the window

Let in the Night

All that is lovely

Comes at this hour

Moonlight and moonbeam

And fragrance of flower

Blossoming Champa

And Queen of the Night—

And sometimes a field mouse

Drops in for a bite.

High in the treetops

An owl strikes a note

And the frogs in their pond

Sing out as they float

Along on their lily pads …

The brainfever bird

Is calling on high

‘Brain fever, brain fever!’—

Its monotonous cry.

The nightjar plays trombone

The crickets join in

An out-of-tune orchestra

Making a din!

I lie awake listening

To the wild duck in flight

As they fly to the north

For their annual respite;

And a star in the heavens

Sweeps past as it falls,

A leopard’s out hunting—

The swamp deer calls.

A breeze has sprung up,

It hums in the trees

The window is rattling

And I must cease

From my Nocturne

And shut out the Night.

Goodnight, birds

Goodnight, frogs

Goodnight, stars

Goodnight sweet Night.