by Conrad Aiken (1889 - 1973)

Language: English 
 ... 

Knock on the door, and you shall have an answer!
Open the heavy walls to set me free,
And blow a horn to call me into the sunlight,
And startled then what a strange thing you shall see!
Nuns, murderers, and drunkards, saints and sinners,
Lover and dancing girl and sage and clown
Will laugh upon you, and you will find me nowhere...
I am a room, a house, a street, a town.

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Composition:

    Set to music by Bainbridge Crist (1883 - 1969), "Knock on the door", published 1934, stanza 4 [ high voice and orchestra or piano ]

Text Authorship:

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 308