by Charlotte Mew (1869 - 1928)
Smile, Death
Language: English
Smile, Death, see I smile as I come to you Straight from the road and the moor that I leave behind, Nothing on earth to me was like this wind-blown space, Nothing was like the road, but at the end there was a vision or a face And the eyes were not always kind. Smile, death, as you fasten the blades to my feet for me, On, on let us skate past the sleeping willows dusted with snow ; Fast, fast down the frozen stream, with the moor and the road and the vision behind, (Show me your face, why the eyes are kind !) And we will not speak of life or believe in it or remember it as we go.
Authorship:
- by Charlotte Mew (1869 - 1928), "Smile, Death" [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 Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Smile, Death", from Women's Voices, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-18
Line count: 10
Word count: 122