The Judge is like the Owl -
I’ve heard my Father tell -
And Owls do build in Oaks -
So here’s an Amber Sill -

That slanted in my Path -
When going to the Barn -
And if it serve You for a House -
Itself is not in vain -

About the price - ’tis small -
I only ask a Tune
At Midnight - Let the Owl select
His favourite Refrain.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 2, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 728.

Text Authorship:

• by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [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 Julian Philips (b. 1969), "The owl", 1997/2002, published 2007 [high voice and piano], from An Amherst Bestiary, no. 6, Peters Edition [ sung text verified 1 time]

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

• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le hibou", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , "Die Eule", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 64

Der Richter gleicht der Eule -
Hörte ich meinen Vater sagen -
Und Eulen bauen in Eichen -
Hier ist also eine Bernstein-Schwelle -

Die sich über meinen Pfad neigte -
Als ich zur Scheune ging -
Und wenn es dir als Haus dienen kann -
Dann existiert es nicht umsonst -

Was die Miete betrifft - sie ist niedrig -
Ich verlange nur ein Lied
Um Mitternacht - lass die Eule sich
Ihren Lieblings-Refrain aussuchen.