The Serenades

A serenade is a musical performance given to honor or express love for someone.

It comes from the Italian root words sereno (peaceful) and sera (evening). The lover usually sings a song at night in the open air for the beloved, in most cases, beneath  the lover's window.
   The selection for tonight is entitled "The Serenade" by Michael Lington.

  Another Serenade is from the poem "Indian Serenade" by the Romantic Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

The Indian Serenade             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,          5   And a spirit in my feet Hath led me—who knows how?   To thy chamber window, Sweet! The wandering airs they faint   On the dark, the silent stream—   10 And the champak's odours [pine]   Like sweet thoughts in a dream; The nightingale's complaint,   It dies upon her heart, As I must on thine,   15   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.   20 My cheek is cold and white, alas!   My heart beats loud and fast: O press it to thine own again,   Where it will break at last!

These two serenades are similar, one in a restaurant and the other beneath the chamber window of his sweet love. In a  nightclub, we sit in darkness and listen to singers or musicians cheer us with sweet sounds, like a nightingale or poet's words. The melody of a musician, moves us and softens us, and we know not why. Both serenades  are beautiful expressions of love.
The night air is more beautiful after reading and listening to theses selections.
    Are you lifted from the grass when you think about the one you love? Doesn't it feel sometimes that you can float or fly?
Who knows how? Click on the title of the poem and let the audio reading serenade you, just like music.