aubade n. [OH-bahd]
- a song or poem greeting the dawn
- a poem or song of or about lovers separating at dawn
- a morning love song
- musical announcement of the dawn
Etymology:
French, from Old French albade, from Old Provençal albada, from alba, dawn, aubade, from Latin, feminine of albus, white; see albho- in Indo-European roots.
Usage:
Isn't this example of an aubade by Kenneth Patchen beautiful?
“As We Are So Wonderfully Done with Each Other”
As we are so wonderfully done with each other
We can walk into our separate sleep
On floors of music where the milkwhite cloak of childhood lies
O my lady, my fairest dear, my sweetest, loveliest one
Your lips have splashed my dull house with the speech of flowers
My hands are hallowed where they touched over your
soft curving.
It is good to be weary from that brilliant work
It is being God to feel your breathing under me
A waterglass on the bureau fills with morning . . .
Don’t let anyone in to wake us.
