''All You Who Sleep Tonight'', , is a 1990 collection of poems by

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...

. British composer Jonathan Dove set eight of the quatrains and five other poems to music for Nuala Willis in a 1996

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

of the same name. The collection is grouped into five sections: * ''Romantic Residues'', poems which reflect on feelings of love and their effects, or after-effects * ''In Other Voices'', poems from the viewpoint of people in other times and places, such as a doctor in Hiroshima on the day of the atomic bomb * ''In Other Places'', poems about places and people encountered in his travels * ''Quatrains'', four-line poems on themes as diverse as insomnia and table manners * ''Meditations of the Heart'', ranging from admiration of the Russian dissident poet Irina Ratushinskaya to the title poem of the volume. A selection of the poems has been set by British composer Jonathan Dove, and recorded on an award winning CD for the Naxos label by mezzo soprano Patricia Bardon and pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen.

All You Who Sleep Tonight
All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above—

Know that you aren't alone.
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.

References

External Links

Interview with Vikram Seth by Terry Gross on Fresh Air
Seth reads aloud the poems ''Soon'' and ''Round and Round'' Indian English poetry collections Poetry by Vikram Seth Vintage Books books 1990 poetry books {{poetry-collection-stub