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From a very little sphinx

Set by Michael Armand Fink (b. 1939), "From a very little sphinx", published 1969 [ soprano, SSAA chorus, and string quartet or strings ]  [sung text not yet checked]

Note: this setting is made up of several separate texts.


Come along in then, little girl!
Or else stay out!
But in the open door she stands,
And bites her lip and twists her hands,
And stares upon me, trouble-eyed:
"Mother," she says, "I can't decide!
I can't decide!"

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Poems Selected for Young People, in From a Very Little Sphinx, no. 1, first published 1929

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]



Oh, burdock, and you other dock,
That have ground coffee for your seeds,
And lovely long thin daisies, dear -- 
She said that you were weeds!
She said, "Oh, what a fine bouquet!"
But afterwards I heard her say,
"She's always dragging in those weeds."

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Poems Selected for Young People, in From a Very Little Sphinx, no. 2, first published 1929

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]



I know a hundred ways to die.
I've often thought that I'd try one:
Lie down beneath a motor truck
Some day when standing by one.

Or throw myself from off a bridge -- 
Except such things must be
So hard upon the scavengers
And men that clean the sea.

I know some poison I could drink.
I've often thought I'd taste it.
But mother bought it for the sink,
And drinking it would waste it.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Poems Selected for Young People, in From a Very Little Sphinx, no. 4, first published 1929

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]



Look, Edwin! Do you see that boy
Talking to the other boy?
No, over there by the two men -- 
Wait, don't look now -- now look again.
No, not the one in navy-blue;
That's the one he's talking to.
Sure you see him? Stripèd pants?
Well, he was born in Paris, France.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Poems Selected for Young People, in From a Very Little Sphinx, no. 5, first published 1929

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]



Wonder where this horseshoe went.
Up and down, up and down,
Up and past the monument,
Maybe into town.

Wait a minute. "Horseshoe,
How far have you been?"
Says it's been to Salem
And halfway to Lynn.

Wonder who was in the team.
Wonder what they saw.
Wonder if they passed a bridge -- 
Bridge with a draw.

Says it went from one bridge
Straight upon another.
Says it took a little girl
Driving with her mother.

Text Authorship:

  • by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), no title, appears in Poems Selected for Young People, in From a Very Little Sphinx, no. 7, first published 1929

See other settings of this text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]


Author(s): Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
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