(Nor for you, for one alone,
Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bring,
For fresh as the morning, thus would I chant a song for you O sane and sacred death.

All over bouquets of roses,
O death, I cover you with roses and early lilies,
But mostly and now the lilac that blooms the first,
[Copious I break, I break the sprigs from the bushes,]1
With loaded arms I come, pouring for you,
For you and the coffins all of you, O death.)

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¹ omitted by Sessions

Text Authorship:

• by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Memories of President Lincoln, in When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, no. 7 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), no title [ baritone, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra ], from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 3
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    
• by Roger Sessions (1896 - 1985), no title, from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 2
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-13
Line count: 9
Word count: 86