A last song, and a very last, and yet another [ ... ]
Despite and still
Song Cycle by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981)
1. A last song  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985), "A last poem", appears in Man Does, Woman Is, first published 1964, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.2. My lizard  [sung text checked 1 time]
My lizard, my lively writher [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Theodore Roethke (1908 - 1963), "Wish for a young wife", appears in The Far Field, first published 1964, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.3. In the wilderness  [sung text checked 1 time]
[He,]1 of his gentleness, Thirsting and hungering Walked in the Wilderness; Soft words of grace he spoke Unto lost desert-folk That listned wondering. He heard the bittern call From ruined palace-wall, Answered him brotherly; He held communion With the she-pelican Of lonely piety. Basilisk, cockatrice, Flocked to his homilies, With mail of dread device, With monstrous barbed stings, With eager dragon-eyes; Great bats on leathern wings And old, blind, broken things Mean in their miseries. Then ever with him went, Of all his wanderings Comrade, with ragged coat, Gaunt ribs -- poor innocent -- Bleeding foot, burning throat, The guileless young scapegoat; For forty nights and days Followed in Jesus' ways, Sure guard behind him kept, Tears like a lover wept.
Authorship:
- by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985), "In the wilderness", appears in Over the Brazier, first published 1916
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Dans le désert", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Bainton: "Christ"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Solitary hotel  [sung text checked 1 time]
Solitary hotel in mountain pass. Autumn. Twilight. Fire lit. In dark corner young man seated. Young woman enters. Restless. Solitary. She sits. She goes to window. She stands. She sits. Twilight. She thinks. On solitary hotel paper she writes. She thinks. She writes. She sighs. Wheels and hoofs. She hurries out. He comes from his dark corner. He seizes solitary paper. He holds it towards fire. Twilight. He reads. Solitary. What? In sloping, upright and backhands: Queen's hotel, Queen's hotel, Queen's Ho...
Authorship:
- by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), no title, appears in Ulysses, Paris, Shakespeare and Company, first published 1922
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Hôtel solitaire", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit) , "Hotel solitario", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922, page 637.
Note: This is a prose selection (contrary to popular belief that this is a poem). Line breaks added arbitrarily. The first fourteen lines as appear here are actually all one paragraph in the original. This excerpt is from Part III, Episode 17, Ithaca.Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
5. Despite and still  [sung text checked 1 time]
Have you not read [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985), "Despite and still", appears in Poems 1938-1945, first published 1945, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.