by William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963)
The Late Singer
Language: English
Here it is spring again and I still a young man! I am late at my singing. The sparrow with the black rain on his breast has been at his cadenzas for two weeks past: What is it that is dragging at my heart? The grass by the back door is stiff with sap. The old maples are opening their branches of brown and yellow moth-flowers. A moon hangs in the blue in the early afternoons over the marshes. I am late at my singing.
Text Authorship:
- by William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963), "The Late Singer", appears in Sour Grapes: a Book of Poems, first published 1921 [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), "The Late Singer", 2008 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Tom Cipullo (b. 1960), "The Late Singer", 2009 [ voice and piano ], from Singing, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-03-06
Line count: 13
Word count: 85