thy fingers make early flowers of all things. thy hair mostly the hours love: a smothness which sings, saying (though love be a day) do not fear, we will go amaying. thy whitest feet crisply are straying. always thy moist eyes at kisses are playing, whose strangeness much says; singing (though love be a day) for which girl art thou flowers bringing? to be thy lips is a sweet thing and small. Death, thee i call rich beyond wishing if this thou catch, else missing. (though love be a day and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing).
Seven Songs
Song Cycle by Dan Welcher (b. 1948)
1. Thy fingers make early flowers  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 1. Tulips, in 1. Songs, no. 3, first published 1923
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]2. Doll's boy's asleep  [sung text not yet checked]
Doll's boy's asleep [ ... ]
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 1. Tulips, in 1. Songs, no. 5, first published 1923, 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.3. All in green went my love riding  [sung text not yet checked]
All in green went my love riding on a great horse of gold into the silver dawn. four lean hounds crouched low and smiling the merry deer ran before. Fleeter be they than dappled dreams the swift sweet deer the red rare deer. Four red roebuck at a white water the cruel bugle sang before. Horn at hip went my love riding riding the echo down into the silver dawn. four lean hounds crouched low and smiling the level meadows ran before. Softer be they than slippered sleep the lean lithe deer the fleet flown deer. Four fleet does at a gold valley the famished arrow sang before. Bow at belt went my love riding riding the mountain down into the silver dawn. four lean hounds crouched low and smiling the sheer peaks ran before. Paler be they than daunting death the sleek slim deer the tall tense deer. Four tell stags at a green mountain the lucky hunter sang before. All in green went my love riding on a great horse of gold into the silver dawn. four lean hounds crouched low and smiling my heart fell dead before.
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 1. Tulips, in 1. Songs, no. 4, first published 1923
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Where's Madge then  [sung text not yet checked]
Where’s Madge then, Madge and her men? buried with Alice in her hair, (but if you ask the rain he’ll not tell where.) beauty makes terms with time and his worms, when loveliness says sweetly Yes to wind and cold; and how much earth is Madge worth? Inquire of the flower that sways in the autumn she will never guess. but i know
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in XLI Poems, in 1. Songs, no. 5, first published 1925
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Note: this poem entered the public domain in 2021.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. when life is quite through with  [sung text not yet checked]
when life is quite through with and leaves say alas, much is to do for the swallow,that closes a flight in the blue; when love's had his tears out, perhaps shall pass a million years (while a bee dozes on the poppies,the dears; when all's done and said,and under the grass lies her head by oaks and roses deliberated.)
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in XLI Poems, in 1. Songs, no. 3, first published 1920
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First published as "VI" in The Dial, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan. 1920)
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. cruelly, love, walk the autumn long  [sung text not yet checked]
cruelly,love walk the autumn long; the last flower in whose hair, thy lips are cold with songs for which is first to wither,to pass? shallowness of sunlight falls and,cruelly, across the grass Comes the moon love,walk the autumn love,for the last flower in the hair withers; thy hair is acold with dreams, love thou art frail —walk the longness of autumn smile dustily to the people, for winter who crookedly care.
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in XLI Poems, in 1. Songs, no. 12, first published 1925
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Note: this poem entered the public domain in 2021.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
7. when god lets my body be  [sung text not yet checked]
when god lets my body be From each brave eye shall sprout a tree fruit that dangles therefrom the purpled world will dance upon Between my lips which did sing a rose shall beget the spring that maidens whom passion wastes will lay between their little breasts My strong fingers beneath the snow Into strenuous birds shall go my love walking in the grass their wings will touch with her face and all the while shall my heart be With the bulge and nuzzle of the sea
Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in Tulips and Chimneys, in 1. Tulips, in 1. Songs, no. 6, first published 1923
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]