into the strenuous briefness 
Life: 
handorgans and April 
darkness, friends 

i charge laughing. 
Into the hair-thin tints 
of yellow dawn, 
into the women-coloured twilight 

i smilingly glide. I 
into the big vermilion departure 
swim, sayingly; 

(Do you think?) the 
i do, world 
is probably made 
of roses & hello: 

(of solongs and, ashes)

About the headline (FAQ)

First published as "I" in The Dial, Vol. 68, No. 5 (May 1920)

Text Authorship:

• by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "into the strenuous briefness ", 2008 [medium voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-05
Line count: 16
Word count: 53