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by Sidney Lanier (1842 - 1881)

A song of the future
Language: English 
Sail fast, sail fast,
Ark of my hopes, Ark of my dreams;
Sweep lordly o'er the drownèd Past,
Fly glittering through the sun's strange beams;
Sail fast, sail fast.
Breaths of new buds from off some drying lea
With news about the Future scent the sea:
My brain is beating like the heart of Haste;
I'll loose me a bird upon this Present waste;
Go, trembling song,
And stay not long; oh, stay not long:
Thou'rt only a gray and sober dove,
But thine eye is faith and thy wing is love.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sidney Lanier (1842 - 1881), "A song of the future" [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 Bruce Trinkley (b. 1945), "A song of the future", from Sidney Lanier Songs, no. 5. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: John Glenn Paton [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 92

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