Percy Bysshe Shelley Poem Put to Music for Death Commemoration, by Guntbert Markefka

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Introduction

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born August 4, 1792 and died in a boating accident on July 8, 1822. To mark the 200th anniversary of his death, Guntbert “Gunny” Markefka and the Powerpoets Project (© 2022) have put Shelley’s poem “Line to an Indian Air” to music.

Set in an exotic night scene, we share Shelley’s experience as a sleepwalker. What might look as if only a love poem on the surface is also powerful vision of resurgere (to rise again).

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Lines to an Indian Air

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright:
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Has led me—who knows how?—
To thy chamber window, Sweet!

[Refrain: Let thy love in kisses rain]

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The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream—
The champak odours fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The nightingale´s complaint,
It dies upon her heart,
As I must die on thine,
O, belovèd, as thou art!

O lift me from the grass!
I die, I faint, I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast,
Oh! press it close to thine again,
Where it will break at last.

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Guntbert “Gunny” Markefka, living in Hannover/Germany, is a singer and songwriter with music projects in Germany and Europe since the early 1980s. He earned his Ph.D. from Hannover University in 1996 and developed international patents in Natural Language Understanding technologies during his time at Deutsche Telekom. His song catalog is available on audio streaming platforms.