Night Without Sleep

"Night Without Sleep," which sets the text of Charles Henri Ford, was written in 1943, but was not published until 1984 in Selected Songs.

Date: 1984Composer: Paul BowlesText: Charles Henri Ford

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Text

Night Without Sleep
by Charles Henri Ford

Will I die if I sit in that chair?
The moonlight will fade my hair
though the watersnakes drown
the day I am found

Trees blowing the wrong way
hinder night’s becoming day.
Do bats calculate their flight
or does the daylight?

Father eats black bread,
while I eat white;
My sister wears one hat
and I wear nine.

When I die there’s no telling where
the moonlight will find my hair
But if I walked on the sea
between your bed and mine.
Should I reach it in time
or would sleep save me?

Sheet Music

Selected Songs (Paul Bowles)

Composer(s): Paul Bowles

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