The Flower-Fed Buffaloes

Song Cycle by John H. Harbison (b. 1938)

1. The flower‑fed buffaloes  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prarie flowers lie low:
The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass
Is swept away by wheat,
Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by
In the spring that still is sweet.
But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
Left us long ago,
They gore no more, they bellow no more: --
With the Blackfeet lying low,
With the Pawnee lying low.

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2. Enrich my resignation

Language: English 
Enrich my resignation as I usurp those far
 . . . . . . . . . .

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3. Depths

Language: English 
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4. Above Pate Valley  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
We finished clearing the last
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Gary Snyder (b. 1930), "Above Pate Valley", copyright ©

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5. The amaranth  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Ah, in the night, all music haunts me here. . . .
Is it for naught high Heaven cracks and yawns
And the tremendous Amaranth descends
Sweet with the glory of ten thousand dawns?

Does it not mean my God would have me say: --
"Whether you will or no, O city young,
Heaven will bloom like one great flower for you,
Flash and loom greatly all your marts among?"

Friends, I will not cease hoping though you weep.
Such things I see, and some of them shall come
Though now our streets are harsh and ashen-gray,
Though our strong youths are strident now, or dumb.
Friends, that sweet town, that wonder-town, shall rise.
Naught can delay it.  Though it may not be
Just as I dream, it comes at last I know
With streets like channels of an incense-sea.

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Total word count: 355