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by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)

In Tall Grass
Language: English 
Bees and a honeycornb in the dried head
  of a horse in a pasture corner -- a skull
  in the tall grass and a buzz and a buzz
  of the yellow honey-hunters. 

And I ask no better [a] winding sheet
  (over the earth and under the sun). 

Let the bees go honey-hunting with yellow
  blur of wings in the dome of my head, 
  in the rumbling, singing arch of my skull. 

Let there be wings and yellow dust and the
  drone of dreams of honey -- who loses
  and remembers? -- who keeps and
  forgets? 

In a blue sheen of moon over the bones
  and under the hanging honey comb 
  the bees come home and the bees sleep.

Text Authorship:

  • by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), "In Tall Grass", appears in Cornhuskers, first published 1918 [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 Ruth Crawford-Seeger (1901 - 1953), "In Tall Grass", published 1933 [ contralto, oboe, percussion, piano, with or without orchestral ostinato ], from Three Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Wilfrid Howard Mellers (b. 1914), "In Tall Grass", published 1966 [ TTBB chorus, piano, and percussion ], from Chants and Litanies of Carl Sandburg [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 115

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