Six Songs to Poems by E. E. Cummings

Song Cycle by William Laurence Bergsma (1921 - 1994)

1. when god lets my body be  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
when god lets my body be 
  
From each brave eye shall sprout a tree 
fruit that dangles therefrom 
  
the purpled world will dance upon 
Between my lips which did sing 
  
a rose shall beget the spring 
that maidens whom passion wastes 
  
will lay between their little breasts 
My strong fingers beneath the snow 
  
Into strenuous birds shall go 
my love walking in the grass 
  
their wings will touch with her face 
and all the while shall my heart be 
  
With the bulge and nuzzle of the sea

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2. Doll's boy's asleep  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Doll's boy's asleep
 [ ... ]

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3. hist whist  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
hist whist
little ghostthings
tip-toe
twinkle-toe
little [itchy]1
witches and tingling
goblins
hob-a-nob          hob-a-nob
little hoppy happy
toad in tweeds
tweeds
little itchy mousies
with scuttling
eyes        rustle and run          and
hidehidehide
whisk
whisk          look out for the old woman
with the wart on her nose
what she'll do to yer
nobody knows
for she knows the devil            ooch
the devil        ouch
the devil
ach        the great
green
dancing
devil
devil
 
devil
devil
 
                    wheeEEE

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1 W. Mayer: "twitchy"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Thy fingers make early flowers  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
thy fingers make early flowers 
of all things.
thy hair mostly the hours love:
a smothness which
sings, saying 
(though love be a day)
do not fear, we will go amaying.

thy whitest feet crisply are straying.
always
thy moist eyes at kisses are playing,
whose strangeness much
says; singing
(though love be a day)
for which girl art thou flowers bringing?

to be thy lips is a sweet thing
and small.
Death, thee i call rich beyond wishing
if this thou catch,
else missing.
(though love be a day
and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing).

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

5. It may not always be so  [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.

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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]

6. Jimmie's got a goil  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Jimmie's got a goil
 [ ... ]

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Total word count: 461