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by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

Not upon you alone
 (Sung text for setting by J. Kaufer)
 See original
Language: English 
 ... 

7
It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
    The dark threw patches down upon me also;
The best I had done seem'd to me blank and suspicious;
My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?
     ... 

Nor is it you alone who knows what it is to be evil;
I am he who knew what it was to be evil;
I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,
Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
    Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant;
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me,
The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting,
Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting.
Was one with the rest, the days and haps of the rest...

 ... 
Spelling changes used by Kaufer: meagre -> meager

Composition:

    Set to music by Joseph Kaufer (1909 - 1990), "Not upon you alone", published 1951, stanzas 15-16 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Dover Beach and Other Songs, no. 5, Waukegan, Illinois : Lyric-Art

Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-20
Line count: 198
Word count: 1947

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