by
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
It sifts from leaden sieves
Language: English
It sifts from leaden sieves,
It powders all the wood,
It fills with alabaster wool
The wrinkles of the road.
It makes an even face
Of mountain and of plain, -
Unbroken forehead from the east
Unto the east again.
It reaches to the fence,
It wraps it, rail by rail,
Till it is lost in fleeces;
[It flings a crystal veil]1
[On]2 stump and stack and stem, -
[The]3 summer's empty room,
Acres of [seams]4 where harvests were,
Recordless, but for them.
It ruffles wrists of posts,
As ankles of a queen, -
Then stills its artisans like ghosts,
Denying they have been.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Hoekman: "It deals Celestial Vail"
2 Hoekman: "To"
3 Hoekman: "A"
4 Hoekman: "Joints"
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):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Malcolm Wren
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 105
Aus Sieben, bleigrau, stäubt’s
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Aus Sieben, bleigrau, stäubt’s,
bepudert Wald und Hain
und Wolle, alabasterweiß,
deckt falt’ge Straßen ein.
Es glättet das Gesicht
von Berg und Niederung -
ein ebenmäß’ges Weiß von Ost
bis Osten wiederum.
Es hüllt das Gatter ein,
Riegel um Riegel hoch
bis es versunken scheint.
Wirft sein kristallen Tuch
auf Stapel, Stumpf und Stamm -
wo Sommer nahm Logis:
auf Furchen, wo die Frucht einst stand,
vergessen, doch für sie.
Mit Rüschen ziert’s den Pfahl
als wär’s der Kön’gin Bein -
beschwichtigt dann den Flockenspuk
und dementiert das Schnei’n.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles
"Snowfall" = "Schneien"
"Alabaster wool" = "Alabasterwolle"
Text Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2019-01-21
Line count: 20
Word count: 86