Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage,/
must in time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, /
incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
...For my enemy is dead -- a man divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin -- I draw near;
[I bend]1 down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• N. Rorem View original text (without footnotes)
1 Rorem: "Bend down"
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 Thade Jude Correa (b. 1983), "Reconciliation", published 2012 [ high voice and piano ], from Whitman Songs, no. 3, Alliance Publications [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "Reconciliation", 1991, first performed 1991 [ soprano, piano, violin, oboe, bassoon, and percussion ], from Songs of Love and War, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Reconciliation", 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Reconciliation", from Five Poems of Walt Whitman, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jeffrey Van (b. 1941), "Reconciliation" [ SATB chorus and guitar ], from A Procession Winding Around Me, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Reconciliation", published 1936 [ soprano and baritone soli, chorus, and orchestra ], from Dona nobis pacem, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Réconciliation", copyright © 2018, (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: 8
Word count: 83
Mot sur tout, beau comme le ciel,
Si beau que la guerre et tous ses actes de carnage/
doivent dans le temps être complètement perdus,
Que les mains des sœurs Mort et Nuit /
incessamment et doucement se lavent, et toujours encore, ce monde terreux ;
Car mon ennemi est mort, un homme divin comme moi-même est mort,
Je regarde où il gît le visage pâle et encore dans le cercueil -- je m'approche,
M'incline et touche légèrement avec mes lèvres le visage blanc dans le cercueil.