The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth, -
The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.
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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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The bustle in a house", 2010 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Of Time and Eternity, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "The bustle in a house", 1990, first performed 1991 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from I Will Breath a Mountain: A Song Cycle from American Women Poets, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Norman Dinerstein (b. 1937), "The bustle in a house", published 1961 [ soprano and string quartet ], from Four Settings for Soprano and String Quartet, no. 2, New York, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956), "The bustle in a house", first performed 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from Too Few the Mornings Be. Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano, no. 3, Carl Fischer Music [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2021, (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: 34
Geschäftigkeit im Haus
morgens nach einem End,
ist wohl das feierlichste Tun,
das man auf Erden kennt.
Man fegt die Herzen aus
und legt die Lieb’ zur Seit’,
die erst wieder zum Einsatz kommt
in ferner Ewigkeit.