Wild nights! -- Wild nights! Were I with thee, Wild nights should be Our luxury! Futile -- the Winds -- To a heart in port, -- Done with the Compass, -- Done with the Chart! Rowing in Eden -- Ah! the Sea! Might I but moor -- Tonight -- In thee!
Songs of Love and Death
Song Cycle by Marjorie M. Rusche
1. Wild nights
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Mei Foong Ang) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Sturmnacht! - Sturmnacht!", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Notti selvagge! Notti di tempesta!", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. An Irish airman foresees his death
I know that I shall meet my fate Somewhere among the clouds above; Those that I fight I do not hate, Those that I guard I do not love; My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan's poor, No likely end could bring them loss Or leave them happier than before. Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public men, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight Drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death.
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "An Irish airman foresees his death", appears in The Wild Swans at Coole, first published 1919
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Un aviateur irlandais prévoit sa mort", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with W. B. Yeats, Later Poems, Macmillan and Co., London, 1926, page 245.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. I can wade Grief
I can wade Grief —
Whole Pools of it —
I'm used to that —
But the least push of Joy
Breaks up my feet —
And I tip — drunken —
...
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written 1862
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Waten durch Leid", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
4. This is just to say
I have eaten [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963), "This is just to say", appears in Collected Poems 1921-1931, first published 1934, copyright ©
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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. I heard a fly buzz
I heard a Fly buzz -- when I died -- The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air -- Between the Heaves of Storm. The Eyes around -- had wrung them dry -- And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset -- when the King Be witnessed -- in the Room -- I willed my Keepsakes -- Signed away What portion of me be Assignable -- and then it was There interposed a Fly -- With Blue -- uncertain stumbling Buzz -- Between the light -- and me -- And then the Windows failed -- and then I could not see to see --
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1896
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
6. The hanging man
By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me. I sizzled in his blue volts like a desert prophet. The nights snapped out of sight like a lizard's eyelid: A world of bald white days in a shadeless socket. A vulturous boredom pinned me in this tree. If he were I, he would do what I did.
Text Authorship:
- by Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963), "The hanging man", appears in Ariel, first published 1965
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]7. Mary's eyes
Mary's eyes are blue as azure [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein (1930 - 1999), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.8. After Reading St. John the Divine
Moon's glow by sevenfold multiplied turned red [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Gene Derwood (1909 - 1954), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.9. Love comes quietly
Love comes quietly [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Creeley (1926 - 2005), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.10. Living
The fire in leaf and grass [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Denise Levertov (1923 - 1997), "Living", appears in The Sorrow Dance, first published 1967, copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.