by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
As imperceptibly as grief
Language: English
Our translations: FRE GER ITA
As imperceptibly as grief
The Summer lapsed away --
Too imperceptible, at last,
To seem like Perfidy --
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon --
The Dusk drew earlier in --
The morning foreign shone --
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, [that]1 would be gone --
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• E. Bacon About the headline (FAQ)
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1 Bacon: "who"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Summer's lapse", alternate title: "As imperceptibly as grief", c1960-74 [ soprano, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Martin Butler (b. 1960), "The summer lapsed away", published 1985 [ soprano, clarinet, and piano ], from Three Emily Dickinson Songs, no. 1, Oxford, Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Layton Kent (b. 1916), "As imperceptibly as grief", published 1966 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Autumn songs, no. 2, New York: Lawson-Gould [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Previn (1929 - 2019), "As imperceptibly as grief", 1999, first performed 1999 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Dickinson Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wim de Ruiter (b. 1943), "As imperceptibly as grief", 1983 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert W. Thygerson , "As imperceptibly as grief", published 1980 [ SSA chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2010, (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: 70
So wenig wahrnehmbar wie Leid
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
So wenig wahrnehmbar wie Leid
verging des Sommers Blühn -
zu wenig wahrnehmbar zuletzt
als dass er treulos schien -
Ruh’ träufelte herab,
längst Zwielicht überm Land -
Natur den ganzen Nachmittag
in Stille zu sich fand -
Die Dämmerung fiel früher ein -
fremder das Morgenrot -
anmutig, höflich, - schmerzlich doch -
ein Gast, der alsbald fort -
und solcherart, ganz flügellos
und ohne einen Kiel
entfloh der Sommer, mühelos,
ins schönere Exil.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2017-05-21
Line count: 16
Word count: 66