Song + 

Hush, Hush! Tread Softly! + 

I + 

Hush, hush! tread softly! hush, hush, my dear! + 

All the house is asleep, but we know very well + 

That the jealous, the jealous old bald-pate may hear, + 

Though you’ve padded his night-cap⁠—O sweet Isabel! + 

Though your feet are more light than a Faery’s feet, + 

Who dances on bubbles where brooklets meet⁠— + 

Hush, hush! soft tiptoe! hush, hush, my dear! + 

For less than a nothing the jealous can hear. + 

II + 

No leaf doth tremble, no ripple is there + 

On the river,⁠—all’s still, and the night’s sleepy eye + 

Closes up, and forgets all its Lethean care, + 

Charm’d to death by the drone of the humming May-fly; + 

And the Moon, whether prudish or complaisant, + 

Has fled to her bower, well knowing I want + 

No light in the dusk, no torch in the gloom, + 

But my Isabel’s eyes, and her lips pulp’d with bloom. + 

III + 

Lift the latch! ah gently! ah tenderly⁠—sweet! + 

We are dead if that latchet gives one little clink! + 

Well done⁠—now those lips, and a flowery seat⁠— + 

The old man may sleep, and the planets may wink; + 

The shut rose shall dream of our loves and awake + 

Full-blown, and such warmth for the morning take, + 

The stock-dove shall hatch her soft brace and shall coo, + 

While I kiss to the melody, aching all through. + 