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I like to see it lap the miles, And lick the valleys up, And stop to feed itself at tanks; And then, prodigious, step Around a pile of mountains, And, supercilious, peer In shanties by the sides of roads; And then a quarry pare To fit its [sides]1, and crawl between, Complaining all the while In horrid, hooting stanza; Then chase itself down hill And neigh like Boanerges; Then, punctual as a star, Stop - docile and omnipotent - At its own stable door.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Getty, Perle: "ribs"
Authorship
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891 [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 Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "I like to see it lap the miles" [soprano and piano], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 3 : Almost Peace, no. 19. [ sung text verified 1 time]
- by George Perle (1915 - 2009), "I like to see it lap the miles", 1977 [voice and piano], from Thirteen Dickinson Songs, no. 2. [ sung text verified 1 time]
- by William Keith Rogers (b. 1921), "I like to see it lap the miles", published 1948 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Three Songs from Emily Dickinson, no. 2. [ sung text not verified ]
- by Adolf Weiss (1891 - 1971), "The railway train", 1928, published c1930 [soprano and string quartet], from Seven Songs for Soprano and String Quartet, no. 3. [ sung text not verified ]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 84
J'aime le voir avaler les Miles -- Et lécher le fond des Vallées -- Et s'arrêter pour se nourrir aux Réservoirs -- Et puis -- prodigieusement aller Autour d'un Tas de Montagnes -- Et dédaigneusement regarder Les cabanes -- au bord des Routes -- Et puis peler une Carrière Pour s'ajuster à ses côtés et ramper à travers Se plaignant tout le temps En un couplet horrible -- de son sifflet -- Puis se pourchasser lui-même en descendant la Colline -- Et hennir comme Boanergès -- Puis -- plus à l'heure qu'une Étoile S'arrêter -- docile et tout puissant À la porte de son étable --
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of title(s):
"The railway train" = "Le chemin de fer"
"I like to see it lap the miles" = "J'aime le voir avaler les Miles"
Authorship
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2016 by Guy Laffaille, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact:
- a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891
This text was added to the website: 2016-12-31
Line count: 16
Word count: 92