The last night that she lived, It was a common night, Except the dying; this to us Made nature different. We noticed smallest things, - Things overlooked before, By this great light upon our minds Italicized, as 't were. That others could exist While she must finish quite, A jealousy for her arose So nearly infinite. We waited while she passed; It was a narrow time, Too jostled were our souls to speak, At length the notice came. She mentioned, and forgot; Then lightly as a reed Bent to the water, shivered scarce, Consented, and was dead. And we, we placed the hair, And drew the head erect; And then an awful leisure was, Our faith to regulate.
Three songs of death
Song Cycle by Fania Chapiro (1926 - 1994)
1. The last night that she lived  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. I died for beauty  [sung text not yet checked]
I died for beauty, but was scarce Adjusted in the tomb, When one who died for truth was lain In an adjoining room. He questioned softly why I failed? "For beauty," I replied. "And I for truth, - the two are one; We brethren are," he said. And so, as kinsmen met a night, We talked between the rooms, Until the moss had reached our lips, And covered up our names.
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) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , no title, copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
3. Because I could not stop for death  [sung text not yet checked]
Because I [could]1 not stop for Death -- He kindly stopped for me -- The carriage held but just ourselves -- and Immortality. We slowly drove -- he knew no haste, And I had put away My labour, and my leisure too For His Civility -- We passed the school, where children played, [ At wrestling in a ring]2 We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. We paused before a house that seemed a swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then 'tis centuries; but each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity.
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):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La voiture", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "La carrozza", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Copland, Kagen: "would"
2 Copland: "Their lessons scarcely done"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]