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by Emily Pauline Johnson (1861 - 1913)

Erie Waters
Language: English 
A dash of yellow sand,
Wind-scattered and sun-tanned;
Some waves that curl and cream along the margin of the strand;
And, creeping close to these
Long shores that lounge at ease,
Old Erie rocks and ripples to a fresh sou’-western breeze.

A sky of blue and grey;
Some stormy clouds that play
At scurrying up with ragged edge, then laughing blow away,
Just leaving in their trail
Some snatches of a gale;
To whistling summer winds we lift a single daring sail.

O! wind so sweet and swift,
O! danger-freighted gift
Bestowed on Erie with her waves that foam and fall and lift,
We laugh in your wild face,
And break into a race
With flying clouds and tossing gulls that weave and interlace.

Confirmed with Emily Pauline Johnson, Flint and Feather: The Complete Poems of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake, The Musson Book Co., 1917


Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Pauline Johnson (1861 - 1913), "Erie Waters" [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 Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947), "Erie Waters", 2018/2022, copyright © 2023 [ alto and piano ], from The Great Lakes, no. 3, E.C.Schirmer
        Score: ECS Publishing [external link]  [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-21
Line count: 18
Word count: 124

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