by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
The first day's night had come
Language: English
The first day's night had come, And grateful that a thing So terrible had been endured, I told my soul to sing. She said her strings were snapped, Her bow to atoms blown, And so to mend her gave me work Until another morn. And then a day as huge As yesterdays in pairs Unrolled its horror in my face Until it blocked my eyes, My brain began to laugh, I mumbled like a fool, And though 'tis years ago, that day, My brain keeps giggling still. And something's odd within; That person that I was And this one do not feel the same, Could it be madness, this?
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Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [author's text not yet checked 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 Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "The first day's night had come" [soprano and piano], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 2 : So We Must Meet Apart, no. 10. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 20
Word count: 109