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Songs for the Earth

Song Cycle by Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927)

1. Nature is what we see
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
"Nature" is what we see --
The Hill -- the Afternoon --
Squirrel -- Eclipse -- the Bumble bee --
Nay -- Nature is Heaven --
Nature is what we hear --
The Bobolink -- the Sea --
Thunder -- the Cricket --
Nay -- Nature is Harmony --
Nature is what we know --
Yet have no art to say --
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title

See other settings of this text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 2, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 721 (Version A).

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

2. And this delightful Herb  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
And this [delightful]1 Herb, whose [tender]2 green,
Fledges the [River's Lip]3 on which we lean --
Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edward Fitzgerald (1809 - 1883), no title, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, First Edition, no. 19, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Second Edition, no. 25, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Third Edition, no. 20, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Fourth Edition, no. 20, first published 1859

Based on:

  • a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hakim Omar Khayyám (c1048 - c1122) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

See other settings of this text.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Houseley, Lehmann: "reviving"
2 Fitzgerald had "living" in the second edition.
3 Lehmann: "river-lip"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

3. I robbed the Woods  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
I robbed the Woods --
The trusting Woods.
The unsuspecting Trees
Brought out their Burs and mosses
My fantasy to please.
I scanned their trinkets curious -- 
I grasped -- I bore away --
What will the solemn Hemlock --
What will the Oak tree say?

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Go to the general single-text view

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Experiment

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Dorothy Diemer Hendry (1918 - 2006), "Experiment", written 2001, copyright ©

Go to the general single-text view

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

5. And I saw another Brightness

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Based on:

  • a text in Latin by Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

6. Harvest moon ‑‑ The mockingbird sings in the night

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Mary Oliver (b. 1935), copyright ©

Go to the general single-text view

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Total word count: 128
Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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