by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
God's World
Language: English
O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, -- Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me, -- let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Text Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "God's World", appears in Renascence and Other Poems, first published 1917 [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 Samuel Hans Adler (b. 1928), "God's World", published 1968 [ SSAA chorus and piano ], from In Nature's Ebb and Flow [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Alette (b. 1922), "God's World", published 1963 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Colville , "God's World", published 1976 [ SSATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eric Ewazen (b. 1954), "God's World", 1990 [ high voice and piano ], from Three Lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sandor Harmati (1892 - 1936), "God's World", published 1934 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Howard Schuman (1910 - 1992), "God's World", published 1933 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Wolfe (1896 - 1973), "God's World", published 1932 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 109