A wounded Deer - leaps highest - I've heard the Hunter tell - 'Tis but the extasy of death - And then the Brake is still! The smitten Rock that gushes! The trampled Steel that springs! A Cheek is always redder Just where the Hectic stings! Mirth is the mail of Anguish - In which it cautious Arm, Lest Anybody spy the blood And "you're hurt" exclaim!
Ten Dickinson Songs
Song Cycle by Paul Wehage
1. A wounded Deer ‑ leaps highest  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written 1860
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , no title, copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. I taste a liquor never brewed  [sung text not yet checked]
I taste a liquor never brewed, From tankards scooped in pearl; Not all the vats upon the Rhine Yield such an alcohol! Inebriate of air am I, And debauchee of dew, Reeling, through endless summer days, From inns of molten blue. When landlords turn the drunken bee Out of the foxglove's door, When butterflies renounce their drams, I shall but drink the more! Till seraphs swing their snowy hats, And saints to windows run, To see the little tippler Leaning against the sun!
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
3. For each ecstatic instant  [sung text not yet checked]
For each ecstatic instant We must an anguish pay In keen and quivering ratio To the ecstasy. For each beloved hour Sharp pittances of years, Bitter contested farthings And coffers heaped with tears.
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):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Per ogni attimo d'estasi", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
4. The nearest dream recedes, unrealized  [sung text not yet checked]
The nearest Dream recedes - unrealized - The Heaven we chase - Like the June Bee - before the School Boy - Invites the Race - Stoops - to an easy Clover - Dips - evades - teazes - deploys - Then - to the Royal Clouds Lifts his light Pinnace - Heedless of the Boy - Staring - bewildered - at the mocking sky - Homesick for steadfast Honey - Ah - the Bee flies not That brews that rare variety!
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written 1862
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Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann5. Except the heaven had come so near  [sung text not yet checked]
Except the Heaven had come so near -- So seemed to choose My Door -- The Distance would not haunt me so -- I had not hoped -- before -- But just to hear the Grace depart -- I never thought to see -- Afflicts me with a Double loss -- 'Tis lost -- And lost to me --
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written 1863
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Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann6. If tolling bell I ask the cause  [sung text not yet checked]
If tolling bell I ask the cause. „A soul has gone to God,“ I’m answered in a lonesome tone; Is heaven then so sad? That bells should joyful ring to tell A soul had gone to heaven, Would seem to me the proper way A good news should be given.
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
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Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann7. Good night! which put the candle out?  [sung text not yet checked]
Good Night! Which put the Candle out? A jealous Zephyr - not a doubt - Ah, friend, you little knew How long at that celestial wick The Angels - labored diligent - Extinguished - now - for you! It might - have been the Light House spark - Some Sailor - rowing in the Dark - Had importuned to see! It might - have been the Waning lamp That lit the Drummer from the Camp To purer Reveille!
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written 1862
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Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann8. On this long storm the Rainbow rose  [sung text not yet checked]
On this long storm the rainbow rose, On this late morn the sun; The clouds, like listless elephants, Horizons straggled down. The birds rose smiling in their nests, The gales indeed were done; Alas! how heedless were the eyes On whom the summer shone! The quiet nonchalance of death No daybreak can bestir; The slow archangel's syllables Must awaken her.
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]9. Musicians wrestle everywhere  [sung text not yet checked]
Musicians wrestle everywhere: All day, among the crowded air, I hear the silver strife; And - waking long before the [dawn]1 - Such transport breaks upon the town I think it that "new life"! It is not bird, it has no nest; Nor band, in brass and scarlet dressed, Nor tambourine, nor man; It is not hymn from pulpit read, - The morning stars the treble led On time's first afternoon! Some say it is the spheres at play! Some say that bright majority Of vanished dames and men! Some think it service in the place Where we, with late, celestial face, Please God, shall ascertain!
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Carter: "morn"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
10. On this wondrous sea  [sung text not yet checked]
On this wondrous sea, Sailing silently, [Ho! pilot, ho! Knowest thou the shore]1 Where no breakers roar, Where the storm is o'er? In the silent west Many [the]2 sails at rest, Their anchors fast; Thither I pilot thee, - Land, ho! Eternity! Ashore at last!
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):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 lines inverted by Bacon ?
2 omitted by Bacon ?
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]