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by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955)

Cy est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, et les Unze Mille Vierges
Language: English 
Ursula, in a garden, found
A bed of radishes.
She kneeled upon the ground
And gathered them,
With flowers around,
Blue, gold, pink, and green.

She dressed in red and gold brocade
And in the grass an offering made
Of radishes and flowers.

She said, "My dear,
Upon your altars,
I have placed
The marguerite and coquelicot,
And roses
Frail as April snow;
But here," she said,
"Where none can see,
I make an offering, in the grass,
Of radishes and flowers."
And then she wept
For fear the Lord would not accept.
The good Lord in His garden sought
New leaf and shadowy tinct,
And they were all His thought.
He heard her low accord,
Half prayer and half ditty,
And He felt a subtle quiver,
That was not heavenly love,
Or pity.

This is not writ
In any book.

First published in the magazine Rogue, 1915

Text Authorship:

  • by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Cy est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, et les Unze Mille Vierges", appears in Harmonium, first published 1923 [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 John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Cy est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, et les Unze Mille Vierges", op. 142 no. 5, published 1977 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from Five Part Songs to Poems by Wallace Stevens, no. 5, London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-07
Line count: 31
Word count: 141

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