By a departing light

Song Cycle by Libby Larsen (b. 1950)

Word count: 138

German (Deutsch) translation: Im letzten Abendlicht ( Bertram Kottmann)

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

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

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

Authorship

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Bolts of Melody [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

See other settings of this text.

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

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

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

Authorship

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

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]

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.

Authorship

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

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

Researcher for this text: Bertram Kottmann

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

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.

So 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!]¹

Authorship

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written c1858 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

See other settings of this text.

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

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ another version of Dickinson: "And shot -- exultant on!"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]