Let down the bars | Let down the bars, O Death!

Let down the bars, O Death!

Language: English

Our translations: FRE GER

Let down the bars, O Death!
The tired flocks come in
Whose bleating ceases to repeat,
Whose wandering is done.

Thine is the stillest night,
Thine the securest fold;
Too near thou art for seeking thee,
Too tender to be told.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• R. Jordahl

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891 [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):

by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Let down the bars", c1931 [ voice and piano ], from Songs from Emily Dickinson [sung text checked 1 time]
by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "Let down the bars, O Death", op. 8 no. 2 (1936), published 1936 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Let down the bars", 1968, published 1978 [ soprano and piano ], from Six Poems by Emily Dickinson, no. 3, Southern Music Publishing Co. Inc., New York and Peer Musikverlag GMbH, Hamburg [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert Arnold Jordahl (b. 1926), "Let down the bars, oh Death" [ voice and flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon ], from Death and the Maiden, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Let down the bars, O Death", published 1976 [ soprano, clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano ], from Far from love, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Daniel Rogers Pinkham (1923 - 2006), "Let down the bars, oh Death", from Called Home, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Vally Weigl, née Pick (c1894 - 1982), "Let down the bars" [ TTBB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 41