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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

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

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

Go to the general single-text view

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)

Go to the general single-text view

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Im letzten Abendlicht", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Quando una luce ci lascia", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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.

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

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written c1858

See other settings of this text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Es treibt umher! Ein kleines Boot!", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 139
Gentle Reminder

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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