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by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

[No title]
 (Sung text for setting by C. Stanford)
 Matches base text
Language: English 
Tears! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears,
On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand,
Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate,
Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head;
O who is that ghost? that form in the dark, with tears?
What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on the sand?
Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries;
O storm, embodied, rising, careering with swift steps along the beach!
O wild and dismal night storm, with wind - O howling and desperate!
O shade so sedate by day, with calm countenance and steady pace,
But away at night as you fly, none looking - O then the unloosen'd ocean,
Of tears! tears! tears!

Composition:

    Set to music by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), no title, alternate title: "Tears", op. 97 no. 5 (1906), published 1908 [ voice and piano ], from Six Songs of Faith, no. 5

Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Tears"

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 123

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