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I Will Breath a Mountain: A Song Cycle from American Women Poets

Song Cycle by William Bolcom (b. 1938)

1. Pity me not because the light of day
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Pity me not because the light of day
At close of day no longer walks the sky;
Pity me not for beauties passed away
From field and thicket as the the year goes by;
Pity me not the waning of the moon,
Nor that the ebbing tide goes out to sea,
Nor that a man's desire is hushed so soon,
And you no longer look with love on me.
This have I known always: Love is no more
Than the wide blossom which the wind assails,
Than the great tide that treads the shifting shore,
Strewing fresh wreckage gathered in the gales:
Pity me that the heart is slow to learn
What the swift mind beholds at ever turn. 

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), appears in The Harp-Weaver and other poems, first published 1923

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. How to swing those obbligatos around
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
He had shag hair & a boutique
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Alice Fulton (b. 1952), copyright ©

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3. The crazy woman
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I shall not sing a May song
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (1917 - 2000), copyright ©

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4. Just once
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Just once I knew what life was for
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Anne Sexton (1928 - 1974), "Just once", 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.

5. Never more will the wind
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Never more will the wind
cherish you again,
never more will the rain.

Never more
shall we find you bright
in the snow and wind.

The snow is melted,
the snow is gone,
and you are flown:

Like a bird out of our hand,
like a light out of our heart,
you are gone.

Text Authorship:

  • by Hilda Doolittle (1886 - 1961)

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

6. The sage
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The cat is eating the roses
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Denise Levertov (1923 - 1997), copyright ©

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7. O to be a dragon
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
If I, like Solomon,
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972), "O to be a dragon", from O to Be a Dragon, first published 1959, 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.

8. The bustle in a house
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth, -

The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890

See other settings of this text.

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

9. I saw Eternity
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
O beautiful Forever!
O grandiose Everlasting!
Now, now, now,
I break you into pieces,
I feed you to the ground.
O brilliant, O languishing
Cycle of weeping light!
The mice and birds will eat you
And you will spoil their stomachs
As you have spoiled my mind.
Here, mice, rats,
Porcupines and toads,
Moles, shrews, squirrels,
Weasels, turtles, lizards,--
Here's a bright Everlasting!
Here's a crumb of Forever!
Here's a crumb of Forever! 

Text Authorship:

  • by Louise Bogan (1897 - 1970), "I saw Eternity"

See other settings of this text.

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

10. Night practice
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
will/ remember
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Anna Thilda May "May" Swenson (1913 - 1989), "Night practice", 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.

11. The fish
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
I caught a tremendous fish
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Elizabeth Bishop (1911 - 1979), copyright ©

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Total word count: 1212
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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