by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
You cannot put a fire out
Language: English
Our translations: GER
You cannot put a fire out; A thing that can ignite Can go, itself, without a fan Upon the slowest night. You cannot fold a flood And put it in a drawer,— Because the winds would find it out, And tell your cedar floor.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Poems by Emily Dickinson. Third Series, ed by Mabel Loomis Todd, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896.
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "Power", appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 50 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956), "You cannot put a Fire out", first performed 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from Too Few the Mornings Be. Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano, no. 5, 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 page: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-03-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 44