Extinguish my eyes I still can see you: Close my ears I can hear your footsteps fall: And without feet I still can follow you: Voiceless I can still return your call. Break off my arms, and I can embrace you: Enfold you with my heart as with a hand: Hold my heart, my brain will take fire of you As flax takes fire from a brand! And flame will sweep in a flood: Through all the singing currents of my blood: Mmmmmmm....
Space to be Lonely
Song Cycle by Rachel Devore Fogarty
1. Extinguish My Eyes  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Jessie Lemont (1872 - 1947)
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Lösch mir die Augen aus", appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 2. Das Buch von der Pilgerschaft, no. 7
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Home Again  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Where I used to be I could hear the sea. The black ragged palm fronds flung themselves against the twilight sky. The moon stared up from the water like a fish's eye. I had the loneliness that sings. It made me light and gave me wings. Is it the dust and the iron railings and the blank red brick That makes me sick? There is no space to be lonely any more And crumbling feet on a city street Sound past the door.
Text Authorship:
- by Evelyn Scott (1893 - 1963), "Home Again", appears in Precipitations, copyright status unknown
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Confirmed with Evelyn Scott, Precipitations, 1920
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
3. Evening
Language: English
The sky in the west slowly puts on a fresh array of colors Which are held for him by a row of ancient trees; You watch: and the two worlds steal away from you; One passes to heaven, the other falling; Leaving you not really belonging to either, Not so hushed and empty as a darkened house; Not obsessed with the eternal like the stars which climb- Leaving you (beyond words and unable to unwind) your life, Shaken and awed by its vastness, unraveling So that, now limited, but once more grasping, Your life moves between both stone and star.
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Abend", appears in Das Buch der Bilder
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based on a literal translation of Sam Van GoolResearcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
4. Loss
Language: English
We walked this field together
. . . . . . . . . .
— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —
Total word count: 266