by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
These are the days when birds come back
Language: English
These are the days when birds come back, A very few, a bird or two, To take a backward look. These are the days when skies put on The old, old sophistries of June, — A blue and gold mistake. Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee, Almost thy [plausibility]1 Induces my belief, Till ranks of seeds their witness bear, And softly through the altered air Hurries a timed leaf! Oh, sacrament of summer days, Oh, last communion in the haze, Permit a child to join, Thy sacred emblems to partake, Thy consecrated bread to break, Taste thine immortal wine!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Boston: Little, Brown, 1924.
1 Stöhr: "possibility"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 Richard Stöhr (1874 - 1967), "Indian Summer", op. 110 (Twelve Songs) no. 6 (1944-1945) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Set in a modified version by Rudolf Escher, William Ferris, Ulysses Simpson Kay, George Frederick McKay, Thomas Pasatieri, George Perle, Daniel Rogers Pinkham, Ruth Schonthal.
Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website: 2021-09-12
Line count: 18
Word count: 101