To die singing. Let it be beautiful when I sing the last song, Let it be day! I would stand upon my two feet, singing! I would look upward with open eyes, singing! I would have the winds to envelope my body; I would have the sun to shine upon my body; The whole world I would have to make music with me! Let it be beautiful when thou wouldst slay me, O Shining One! Let it be day when I sing the last song!
Portrait of America
by Diana Blom
1. The last song
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Hartley Burr Alexander (1873 - 1939), "The last song"
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]2. I am the little Irish boy
Language: English
I am a little Irish boy That lives in the shanty I am four years old today And shall soon be one and twenty I shall grow up And be a great man And shovel all day As hard as I can. Down in the deep cut Where the men lived Who made the Railroad. For supper I have some potatoes And sometimes some bread And then if it's cold I go right to bed. I lie on some straw Under my father's coat My mother does not cry And my father does not scold For I am a little Irish Boy And I'm four years old.
Text Authorship:
- by Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), "I am the little Irish boy"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. A shadow
Language: English
I said unto myself, if I were dead,
What would befall these children? What would be
Their fate, who now are looking up to me
For help and furtherance? Their lives, I said,
Would be a volume wherein I have read
But the first chapters, and no longer see
To read the rest of their dear hist'ry,
So full of beauty and so full of dread.
Be comforted; the world is very old,
And generations pass, as they have passed,
A troop of shadows moving with the sun;
Thousands of times has the old tale been told;
The world belongs to those who come the last,
They will find hope and strength as we have done.
Text Authorship:
- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882), "A shadow"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Indian Prayer
Language: English
Do not stand at my grave and weep; I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you wake in the morning hush hush I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circling flight. I am the soft starlight at night. Do not stand at my grave and weep; I am not there. I do not sleep.
Text Authorship:
- by Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905 - 2004), an early version, long regarded as anonymous, reproduced widely
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
5. The last song (reprise)
Language: English
I would stand upon my two feet, singing! I would look upward with open eyes, singing! I would have the winds to envelope my body; the sun to shine upon my body; The whole world I would have to make music with me! Let it be beautiful. Let it be day when I sing the last song!
The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on
- a text in English by Hartley Burr Alexander (1873 - 1939), "The last song"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 449