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Peacock Presumes to Die!

Song Cycle by Michael Ippolito (b. 1985)

for solo voice

1.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I breathed enough to take the Trick—

And now, removed from Air —

I simulate the Breath, so well —

That One, to be quite sure —



The Lungs are stirless — must descend

Among the Cunning Cells —

And touch the Pantomine — Himself,

How numb, the Bellows feels!

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems: Third Series, in 4. Time and Eternity, no. 41

Go to the general single-text view

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

2.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
This is the land the sunset washes,
These are the banks of the yellow sea;
Where it rose, or whither it rushes,
These are the western mystery!

Night after night her purple traffic
Strews the landing with opal bales;
Merchantmen poise upon horizons,
Dip, and vanish like Orioles.

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890

See other settings of this text.

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

3.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
How soft a Caterpillar steps —
I find one on my Hand
From such a Velvet world it comes
Such plushes at command
Its soundless travels just arrest
My slow — terrestrial eye
Intent upon its own career
What use has it for me —

Text Authorship:

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

See other settings of this text.

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , "Die Raupe", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: Two misprints have been corrected: Line 5, word 1 (formerly "It's"), and Line 7, word 2 (formerly "opon").

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

4.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I reason, Earth is short —
And Anguish — absolute —
And many hurt,
But, what of that?

I reason, we could die —
The best Vitality
Cannot excel Decay,
But, what of that?

I reason, that in Heaven —
Somehow, it will be even —
Some new Equation, given —
But, what of that?

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890

See other settings of this text.

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Eric Saroian

5.
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
To die — takes just a little while —
They say it doesn't hurt — 
It's only fainter — by degrees —
And then — it's out of sight —

A darker Ribbon — for a Day —
A Crape upon the Hat —
And then the pretty sunshine comes —
And helps us to forget —

The absent — mystic — creature —
That but for love of us — 
Had gone to sleep — that soundest time —
Without the weariness —

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

See other settings of this text.

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
Total word count: 282
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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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