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The Starry Night

Song Cycle by Jake Heggie (b. 1961)

1. The starry night  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
The town does not exist
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Anne Sexton (1928 - 1974), copyright ©

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

2. Celestial locomotion

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Based on:

  • a text in Dutch (Nederlands) by Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890) [text unavailable]
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3. Go thy great way!  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Go thy great way!
The Stars thou meetst
Are even as Thyself --
For what are Stars but Asterisks
To point a human Life?

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Reflection

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, copyright ©

Based on:

  • a text in Dutch (Nederlands) by Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

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

5. 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]

6. Touch

Language: English 
— This text is not currently
in the database but will be added
as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, copyright ©

Based on:

  • a text in Dutch (Nederlands) by Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

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

7. I would not paint a picture  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
I would not paint -- a picture --
I'd rather be the One
Its bright impossibility
To dwell -- delicious -- on --
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare -- celestial -- stir --
Evokes so sweet a Torment --
Such sumptuous -- Despair --

I would not talk, like Cornets --
I'd rather be the One
Raised softly to the Ceilings --
And out, and easy on --
Through Villages of Ether --
Myself endued Balloon
By but a lip of Metal --
The pier to my Pontoon --

Nor would I be a Poet --
It's finer -- own the Ear --
Enamored -- impotent -- content --
The License to revere,
A privilege so awful
What would the Dower be,
Had I the Art to stun myself
With Bolts of Melody!

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 331
Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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