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by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

Soon shall the winter's foil be here
Language: English 
Soon shall the winter's foil be here;
soon shall these icy ligatures 
unbind and melt — a little while,
and air, soil, wave, suffused shall be in softness, 
bloom and growth — a thousand forms shall rise
from these dead clods and chills 
as from low burial graves.
Thine eyes, ears — all thy best attributes — 
all that takes cognizance of natural beauty,
shall wake and fill. 
Thou shalt perceive the simple shows, 
the delicate miracles of earth,
Dandelions, clover, the emerald grass, 
the early scents and flowers,
the arbutus under foot, the willow's yellow-green, 
the blossoming plum and cherry;
with these the robin, lark and thrush, 
singing their songs — the flitting bluebird;
for such the scenes the annual play brings on.

Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) [author's text not yet checked 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 Silvan Loher (b. 1986), "Soon shall the winter's foil be here", op. 6 no. 6 [voice and piano], from Ten Poems by Walt Whitman, no. 6. [ sung text verified 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Tino Brütsch

This text was added to the website: 2018-01-08
Line count: 19
Word count: 124

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