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e. e. cummings songs:

Song Cycle by Regina A. Harris Baiocchi (b. 1956)

1. little word  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
it may not always be so;and i say 
that if your lips,which i have loved,should touch 
another's,and your dear strong fingers clutch 
his heart,as mine in time not far away; 
if on another's face your sweet hair lay 
in such a silence as i know,or such 
great writhing words as,uttering overmuch, 
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay; 

if this should be,i say if this should be-- 
you of my heart,send me a little word; 
that i may go unto him,and take his hands, 
saying,Accept all happiness from me. 
Then shall i turn my face,and hear one bird 
sing terribly afar in the lost lands.

Text Authorship:

  • by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 2. Chimneys, in 2. Sonnets - Unrealities, no. 1, first published 1917

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with E. E. Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys, New York: Liveright, 1976, page 140.


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

2. brain gesture  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

and death i think is no parenthesis

Text Authorship:

  • by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962)

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

5. love‑crumbs  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body.  i like what it does,
i like its hows.  i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones,and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz
of your electric furr,and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh….And eyes big love-crumbs,
 
and possibly i like the thrill
 
of under me you so quite new

Text Authorship:

  • by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962)

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

6. i carry your heart with me  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, copyright © 1952 by E. E. Cummings

See other settings of this text.

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Total word count: 429
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