by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962)
cruelly,love
Language: English
cruelly,love walk the autumn long; the last flower in whose hair, thy lips are cold with songs for which is first to wither,to pass? shallowness of sunlight falls and,cruelly, across the grass Comes the moon love,walk the autumn love,for the last flower in the hair withers; thy hair is acold with dreams, love thou art frail —walk the longness of autumn smile dustily to the people, for winter who crookedly care.
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Note: this poem entered the public domain in 2021.
Text Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in XLI Poems, in 1. Songs, no. 12, first published 1925 [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 Margaret Garwood (1927 - 2015), "cruelly, love", published 1963 [ soprano and piano ], from Lovesongs: 6 Songs to Poems of E. E. Cummings [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dan Welcher (b. 1948), "cruelly, love, walk the autumn long", from Seven Songs, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-04-04
Line count: 22
Word count: 71