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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Musicians wrestle everywhere
 (Sung text for setting by E. Carter)
 See original
Language: English 
Musicians wrestle everywhere:
All day, among the crowded air,
I hear the silver strife;
And - waking long before the morn -
Such transport breaks upon the town
I think it that "new life"!

It is not bird, it has no nest;
Nor band, in brass and scarlet dressed,
Nor tambourine, nor man;
It is not hymn from pulpit read, -
The morning stars the treble led
On time's first afternoon!

Some say it is the spheres at play!
Some say that bright majority
Of vanished dames and men!
Some think it service in the place
Where we, with late, celestial face,
Please God, shall ascertain!

Composition:

    Set to music by Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (1908 - 2012), "Musicians wrestle everywhere", published 1948 [ SSATB chorus a cappella or with string orchestra ], madrigal

Text Authorship:

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

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 104

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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