by Evelyn Scott (1893 - 1963)
Crowds
Language: English
The sky along the street a gauzy yellow: The narrow lights burn tall in the twilight. The cool air sags, Heavy with the thickness of bodies. I am elated with bodies. They have stolen me from myself. I love the way they beat me to life, Pay me for their cruelties. In the close intimacy I feel for them There is the indecency I like. I belong to them, To these whom I hate; And because we can never know each other, Or be anything to each other, Though we have been the most, I sell so much of me that could bring a better price
Confirmed with Evelyn Scott, Precipitations, The Project Gutenberg, 2003
Text Authorship:
- by Evelyn Scott (1893 - 1963), "Crowds", appears in Precipitations, first published 1920, copyright status unknown [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 Rachel Devore Fogarty , "Crowds", 2017 [ mezzo-soprano, flute and harp ], from Manhattan: The Unpeopled City and Crowds, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2025-10-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 107