by Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931)
What the Miner in the Desert Said
Language: English
The moon's a brass-hooped water-keg, A wondrous water-feast. If I could climb the ridge and drink And give drink to my beast; If I could drain that keg, the flies Would not be biting so, My burning feet be spry again, My mule no longer slow. And I could rise and dig for ore, And reach my fatherland, And not be food for ants and hawks And perish in the sand.
Text Authorship:
- by Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931), "What the Miner in the Desert Said", appears in The Congo and Other Poems, first published 1914 [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 Jake Heggie (b. 1961), "What the Miner in the Desert Said", 2001, first performed 2002 [baritone and piano], from The Moon is a Mirror, no. 2. [text not verified]
- by M. Ryan Taylor (b. 1972), "What the Miner in the Desert Said", 1999 [voice and piano], from The Moon Songs, no. 4. [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-07-29
Line count: 12
Word count: 71