... Dark Mother, always gliding near, with soft feet, Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcome? Then I chant it for thee -- I glorify thee above all; I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come, come unfalteringly. Approach, strong Deliveress, When it is so, when thou hast taken them, I joyously sing the dead, Lost in the loving, floating ocean of thee, Laved in the flood of thy bliss, O Death. ...
In Memoriam
Song Cycle by James Hotchkiss Rogers (1857 - 1940)
1. Dark Mother, always gliding near
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Death carol", appears in Memories of President Lincoln, in When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, no. 16
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. Requiem
Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie;
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
...
This be the verse you grave for me:
"Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Requiem", appears in Underwoods, first published 1887
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Grabschrift", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Requiem", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. The last invocation
At the last, tenderly, From the walls of the powerful, fortress'd house, From the clasp of the knitted locks -- from the keep of the well-closed doors, Let me be wafted. Let me glide noiselessly forth; With the key of softness unlock the locks -- with a whisper, Set ope the doors, O Soul! Tenderly! be not impatient! (Strong is your hold, O mortal flesh! Strong is your hold, O Love.)
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "The last invocation", appears in Leaves of Grass, first published 1900
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Research team for this page: Ted Perry , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]4. Joy, shipmate, joy!
Joy, shipmate, joy! (Pleas'd to my soul at death I cry,) Our life is closed, our life begins, The long, long anchorage we leave, The ship is clear at last, she leaps! She swiftly courses from the shore, Joy, shipmate, joy.
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Joy, shipmate, joy", appears in Leaves of Grass
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Alegra’t company de bord, alegra’t!", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
5. After Death in Arabia
He who died at Azan sends This to comfort all his friends: ... Allah glorious! Allah good! Now thy world is understood; Now the long, long wonder ends; Yet ye weep, my erring friends, While the man whom ye call dead, In unspoken bliss, instead, Lives and loves you; lost, 't is true, By such light as shines for you; But in the light ye cannot see Of unfulfilled felicity, -- In enlarging paradise, Lives a life that never dies. ... Be ye certain all seems love, Viewed from Allah's throne above; Be ye stout of heart, and come Bravely onward to your home! La Allah illa Allah! yea! Thou love divine! Thou love alway! He that died at Azan gave This to those who made his grave.
Text Authorship:
- by Edwin Arnold (1832 - 1904), "After Death in Arabia", appears in Poems, first published 1880
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]6. Sail forth!
...
Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
O my brave soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Passage to India, section 13
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Research team for this page: Thomas A. Gregg , Ahmed E. Ismail