Civilization - spurns - the Leopard!
Was the Leopard - bold?
Deserts - never rebuked her Satin -
Ethiop - her Gold -
Tawny - her Customs -
She was Conscious -
Spotted - her Dun Gown -
This was the Leopard’s nature - Signor -
Need - a keeper - frown?

Pity - the Pard - that left her Asia -
Memories - of Palm -
Cannot be stifled - with Narcotic -
Nor suppressed - with Balm -

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 1, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 276.

Text Authorship:

• by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Julian Philips (b. 1969), "The leopard", 1997/2002, published 2007 [high voice and piano], from the collection An Amherst Bestiary, no. 11, Peters Edition [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , title 1: "Die Leopardin", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-28
Line count: 13
Word count: 55

Die Zivilisation - verschmäht - die Leopardin!
War die Parderin - kühn?
Wüsten - haben nie ihren Sammet getadelt -
Ethiopien - ihr Gold -
Dunkelgelb - ihre Sitten -
Sie war selbstbewusst -
Getupft - ihr fahles Kleid -
Dies war die Natur der Leopardin - Signor -
Muß - ein Wärter - finster dreinblicken?

Habt Mitleid mit - der Leopardin - die ihr Asian verließ -
Erinnerungen - an Palmen -
Können nicht - mit Betäubungsmitteln - gedämpft werden -
Noch - mit Balsam - verdrängt