By a departing light

Song Cycle by Libby Larsen (b. 1950)

Translated to:

German (Deutsch) — Im letzten Abendlicht (Bertram Kottmann)

1. Bind me ‑ I still can sing [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Bind me — I still can sing
Banish — my mandolin
Strikes true within —.

Slay — and my Soul shall rise
Chanting to Paradise —
Still thine.

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Bolts of Melody

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Fessle mich — kann dennoch singen", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor] , Eric Saroian

2. In this short Life [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

In this short Life
That only lasts an hour
How much -- how little -- is
Within our power

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nur eine Stund", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "In questa vita breve", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. By a departing light [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

By a departing light
we see acuter, quite,
than by a wick that stays.
There's something in the flight
that clarifies the sight
and decks the rays.

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

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

Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann

4. Adrift! A little boat adrift! [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Adrift! A little boat adrift!
  And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
  Unto the nearest town?

So sailors say, on yesterday,
  Just as the dusk was brown,
One little boat gave up its strife,
  And gurgled down and down.

But angels say, on yesterday,
  Just as the dawn was red,
One little boat o'erspent with gales
Retrimmed its masts, redecked its sails
  Exultant, onward sped!

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written c1858, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 4. Time and Eternity, no. 47, first published 1896

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

Confirmed with Poems by Emily Dickinson. Third Series, ed by Mabel Loomis Todd, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Total word count: 142