From whence cometh song? [ ... ]
Evidence of Things Not Seen
Song Cycle by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022)
1. From whence cometh song
Text Authorship:
- by Theodore Roethke (1908 - 1963), "Song (From whence cometh song?)", appears in The Far Field, first published 1964, 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.2. The Open Road
Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose. Henceforth I ask not good-fortune -- I myself am good fortune; ... ...
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Song of the Open Road, no. 1
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail3. O where are you going
O where are you going? said reader to rider, That valley is fatal when furnaces burn, Yonders the midden whose odors will madden, That gap is the grave where the tall return. O do you imagine, said fearer to farer, That dusk will delay on your path to the pass, Your diligent looking discover the lacking, Your footsteps feel from granite to grass? O what was that bird, said horror to hearer, Did you see that shape in the twisted tree? Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly, The spot on your skin is a shocking disease. Out of this house said rider to reader, Yours never will said farer to fearer, Theyre looking for you said hearer to horror, As he left them there, as he left them there.
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973)
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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]4. The Rainbow
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.
Text Authorship:
- by William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Mein Herz hüpft auf", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. How Do I Love Thee  [sung text not yet checked]
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as [they]1 turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I [seemed]2 to lose With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 43, first published 1847-50
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (M.W. Wang) , "我有多麽愛你?", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
See also Karl Shapiro's parody How do I love you?
1 Steele: "men"
2 Steele: "seem"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. Life in a love
Escape me? Never - Beloved! While I am I, and you are you, So long as the world contains us both, Me the loving and you the loth, While the one eludes, must the other pursue. My life is a fault at last, I fear - It seems too much like a fate, indeed! Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed - But what if I fail of my purpose here? It is but to keep the nerves at strain, To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall, And baffled, get up to begin again, - So the chase takes up one's life, that's all. While, look but once from your farthest bound, At me so deep in the dust and dark, No sooner the old hope drops to ground Than a new one, straight to the selfsame mark, I shape me - Ever Removed!
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), "Life in a love", appears in Men and Women, Volume I, first published 1855
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail7. Their Lonely Betters
As I listened from a beach-chair in the shade To all the noises that my garden made, It seemed to me only proper that words Should be withheld from vegetables and birds. A robin with no Christian name ran through The Robin-Anthem which was all it knew, And rustling flowers for some third party waited To say which pairs, if any, should get mated. None of them was capable of lying, There was not one which knew that it was dying! Or could have with a rhythm or a rhyme Assumed responsibility for time. Let them leave language to their lonely betters Who count some days and long for certain letters; We, too, make noises when we laugh or weep: Words are for those with promises to keep.
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Their lonely betters"
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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]8. His Beauty Sparkles
His beauty sparkles, his big eyes blaze [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Goodman (1911 - 1972), first published 1972, copyright © by Sally Goodman
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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. Boy with a Baseball Glove
See now the beauty with the glove [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Goodman (1911 - 1972), appears in A Warning/At My Leisure, 5 X 8 Press, first published 1939, copyright © by Sally Goodman
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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. A glimpse
One fitting glimpse caught through an interstice Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room, around the stove, late of a winter night -- And I unremark'd seated in a corner; Of a youth who loves me, and whom I love, silently approaching, and seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand; A long while, amid the noises of coming and going -- of drinking and oath and smutty jest, There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word.
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "A glimpse"
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Portions of this text were used in Idyll by Frederick Delius.
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail11. I am he . . .
I am he that aches with amorous love; Does the earth gravitate? Does not all matter, aching, attract all matter? So the Body of me, to all I meet, or know.
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "I am He that Aches with Love"
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail12. Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath
... Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone. ...
Text Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "Sonnet XXX", appears in Fatal Interview, first published 1931
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]13. The more loving one
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well That, for all they care, I can go to hell, But on earth indifference is the least We have to dread from man or beast. How should we like it were stars to burn With a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me. Admirer as I think I am Of stars that do not give a damn, I cannot, now I see them, say I missed one terribly all day. Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total dark sublime Though this might take me a little time.
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "The more loving one"
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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]14. Hymn for Morning
Wake my soul, and with the sun Thy daily stage of duty run; Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise To pay this morning sacrifice. Redeem thy misspent moments past And live this day as if the last; Improve thy talent with due care; For the great day thyself prepare. Let all thy converse be sincere, Thy conscience as the noon-day clear; Think how all-seeing God thy ways And all thy secret thoughts surveys. Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart, And with the angels bear thy part, Who all night long unwearied sing High praises to the eternal king. Amen.
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Ken (1637 - 1711), written 1709
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail15. I saw a mass of matter of a dull gloomy color
. . . I saw a mass of matter of a dull gloomy color . . . and was informed that this mass was human beings in as great misery as they could be, and live, and that I was mixed in with them, and henceforth I might not consider myself as a distinct or separate being.
Text Authorship:
- by John Woolman (1720 - 1772)
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail16. The Comfort of Friends (O the rapes)
O the rapes, fires, murders, and rivers of blood that lie at the doors of professed Christians! If this be godly, what's devilish? If this be Christian, what's paganism? What's anti-Christian but to make God a party to their wickedness? Time past is none of thine? 'Tis not what thou wast but what thou art. God will be daily looked into. Did'st thou eat yesterday? That feedeth thee not today. They that love beyond the World, cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies. Nor can spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle; the Root and Record of their Friendship. This is the Comfort of Friends, that though they may be said to Die, yet their Friendship and Society are, in the best Sense, ever present, because Immortal.
Text Authorship:
- by William Penn (1644 - 1718), appears in The Comfort of Friends
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail17. A dead statesman
I could not dig: I dared not rob: Therefore I lied to please the mob. Now all my lies are proved untrue And I must face the men I slew. What tale shall serve me here among Mine angry and defrauded young?
Text Authorship:
- by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), "A dead statesman", appears in Epitaphs of the War
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]18. The Candid Man
Forth went the candid man And spoke freely to the wind -- When he looked about him he was in a far strange country. Forth went the candid man and spoke freely to the stars-- Yellow light tore sight from his eyes. "My good fool," said a learned bystander, "Your operations are mad." "You are too candid," cried the candid man. And when his stick left the head of the learned bystander It was two sticks.
Text Authorship:
- by Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900), no title, appears in War Is Kind and Other Lines, no. 9, first published 1899
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail19. Comment on War
Let us kill off youth For the sake of truth. We who are old know what truth is Truth is a bundle of vicious lies Tied together and sterilized A war-makers bait for unwise youth To kill off each other For the sake of Truth.
Text Authorship:
- by Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967), "Comment on War"
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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]20. A learned man
A learned man came to me once. He said, "I know the way--come." And I was overjoyed at this. Together we hastened. Soon, too soon, were we Where my eyes were useless, And I knew not the ways of my feet. I clung to the hand of my friend: But at last he cried, "I am lost."
Text Authorship:
- by Stephen Crane (1871 - 1900), no title, appears in The Black Riders and Other Lines, no. 20, first published 1895
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail21. Dear, though the night is gone
Dear, though the night is gone Its dream still haunts today, That brought us to a room Cavernous, lofty as A railway terminus, And crowded in that room Were beds, and we in one In a far corner lay. Our whisper woke no clocks, We kissed and I was glad At everything you did, Indifferent to those Who sat with hostile eyes In pairs on every bed, Arms round each others necks, Inert and vaguely sad. O but what worm of guilt Or what malignant doubt Am I the victim of, That you then, unabashed, Did what I never wished, Confessed another love; And I, submissive, felt Unwanted and went out.
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "The dream"
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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.
First published in New Verse, April-May 1936, revised 1936Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]22. Requiescat
Tread lightly, she is near Under the snow, Speak gently, she can hear The daisies grow. All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust, She that was young and fair Fallen to dust. Lily-like, white as snow, She hardly knew She was a woman so Sweetly she grew. Coffin-board, heavy stone, Lie on her breast. I vex my heart alone, She is at rest. Peace, Peace, she cannot hear Lyre or sonnet, All my life's buried here, Heap earth upon it.
Text Authorship:
- by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "Requiescat", from Poems, first published 1881
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]23. Is my team ploughing
"Is my team ploughing, That I was used to drive And hear the harness jingle When I was man alive?" Ay, the horses trample, The harness jingles now; No change though you lie under The land you used to plough. "Is football playing Along the river-shore, With lads to chase the leather, Now I stand up no more?" Ay, the ball is flying, The lads play heart and soul; The goal stands up, the keeper Stands up to keep the goal. "Is my girl happy, That I thought hard to leave, And has she tired of weeping As she lies down at eve?" Ay, she lies down lightly, She lies not down to weep: Your girl is well contented. Be still, my lad, and sleep. "Is my friend hearty, Now I am thin and pine, And has he found to sleep in A better bed than mine?" Yes, lad, I lie easy, I lie as lads would choose; I cheer a dead man's sweetheart, Never ask me whose.
Text Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 27, first published 1896
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Patricia Dillard Eguchi) , "Mon attelage laboure-t-il ?", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HEB Hebrew (עברית) (Max Mader) , "האם הצמד שלי חורש", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
24. As I Walked Out One Evening
As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: "Love has no ending. "I'll love you, dear, I'll love you Till China and Afica meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street. "I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky. ... But all the clocks in the city Began to whirr and chime: "O let not Time deceive you You cannot conquer Time. ... "In headaches and in worry Vaguely life leaks away, And time will have his fancy To-morrow or to-day. ... "O plunge your hands in water Plunge them up to the wrist; Stare, stare in the basin And wonder what you've missed." "The glacier knocks in the cupboard, The desert sighs in the bed, And the crack in the tea-cup opens A lane to the land of the dead. ... "O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbor With your crooked heart." It was late, late in the evening The lovers they were gone; The clocks had ceased their chiming, And the deep river ran on.
Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Song"
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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.
First published in New Statesman and Nation, January 1938Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
25. The sick wife
The sick wife stayed in the car [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Jane Kenyon (1947 - 1995), appears in Otherwise: New & Selected Poems, copyright © 1996
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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.26. Now is the dreadful midnight
Now is the dreadful midnight you [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Goodman (1911 - 1972), first published 1972, 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.27. Hymn for Evening
All praise to thee, my God, this night For the blessings of the light: Keep me, O keep me, King of kings, Beneath thine own almighty wings. Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son, The ill that I have done; That with the world, myself, and thee, I, ere I sleep, at peace must be. May my soul on thee repose And with sleep mine eyelids close; Sleep shall me more vigorous make To serve my God when I awake. Amen.
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Ken (1637 - 1711), written 1709
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail28. He thinks upon his death
For the first time I thought of my own death [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), copyright ©
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Julien Green (b. 1900), from Lautre sommeil, last paragraph, 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.29. On an echoing road
On an echoing road, trotting in unison, now out of step, now as one again, are two horses saddled together, guided by a single hand. The needle and the pen, the habit of work and the sly urge to quit the habit, make friends with each other, then separate, then reconcile again.... O my slow steeds, pull now together; from here I can see the end of the road.
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by (Sidonie-Gabrielle) Colette (1873 - 1954), appears in L'étoile vesper, last paragraph
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]30. A terrible disaster
A terrible disaster befell me [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Goodman (1911 - 1972), first published 1972, 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.31. Come In
As I came to the edge of the woods, Thrush musichark! Now it was dusk outside, Inside it was dark. Too dark in the woods for a bird By sleight of wing To better its perch for the night, Though it could still sing. The last of the light of the sun That had died in the west Still lived for one song more In a thrushs breast. Far in the pillared dark Thrush music went Almost like a call to come in To the dark and lament. But no, I was out for the stars: I would not come in. I meant not even if asked, And I hadnt been.
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), "Come in", appears in A Further Range
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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]32. The old men admiring themselves in the water
I heard the old, old men say, "Everything alters, And one by one we drop away." They had hands like claws, and their knees Were twisted like the old thorn-trees By the waters. I heard the old, old men say, "All that's beautiful drifts away, Like the waters."
Text Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "The old men admiring themselves in the water", appears in In the Seven Woods
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
33. End of the Day
In fading light Life dances, twists, and crazily rushes, impudent and shrill, while Night rises, appeasing all, even hunger, hiding all, even shame, The Poet whispers to himself: Finally! while body and soul long desperately for rest, my heart seethes with deathly dreams. Let me lie on my back and enshroud myself in your curtains, O nourishing darkness!
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La fin de la journée", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, no. 124, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]34. Faith
I've been having these [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Mark Doty (b. 1953), copyright © 1995
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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.35. Even now the night jasmine is pouring
... even now the night jasmine is pouring [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Monette , appears in Love Alone: Brother of the Mount of Olives, last page, copyright © 1988
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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.36. Evidence of Things not seen
Faith lights us, even through the Grave, being the Evidence of Things not seen. And this is the Comfort of the Good, that the Grave cannot hold them, and that they live as soon as they die. For Death is no more than a Turning of us over from Time to Eternity. Death then, being the Way and Condition of Life, we cannot love to live, if we cannot bear to die.
Text Authorship:
- by William Penn (1644 - 1718)
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Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail