Songs of Love and Death

Song Cycle by Marjorie M. Rusche

1. Wild nights
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
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!

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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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. An Irish airman foresees his death
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
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.

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  • 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
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
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 —
 ...

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  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Waten durch Leid", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann

4. This is just to say
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I have eaten
 [ ... ]

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5. I heard a fly buzz
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
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 --

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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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

6. The hanging man
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
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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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

7. Mary's eyes
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Mary's eyes are blue as azure
 [ ... ]

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8. After Reading St. John the Divine
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Moon's glow by sevenfold multiplied turned red
 [ ... ]

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9. Love comes quietly
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Love comes quietly
 [ ... ]

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10. Living
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The fire in leaf and grass
 [ ... ]

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Total word count: 597