Ample make this Bed -- Make this Bed with Awe -- In it wait till Judgment break Excellent and Fair. Be its Mattress straight -- Be its Pillow round -- Let no Sunrise' yellow noise Interrupt this Ground --
How Well I Knew the Light
Song Cycle by Jake Heggie (b. 1961)
1. Ample make this bed
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Rendi spazioso questo letto", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. The sun kept setting [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
The Sun kept setting -- setting -- still No Hue of Afternoon -- Upon the Village I perceived From House to House 'twas Noon. The Dusk kept dropping -- dropping -- still No Dew upon the Grass -- But only on my Forehead stopped -- And wandered in my Face -- My Feet kept drowsing -- drowsing -- still My fingers were awake -- Yet why so little sound -- Myself Unto my Seeming -- make? How well I knew the Light before -- I could not see it now -- 'Tis Dying -- I am doing -- but I'm not afraid to know --
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 123