by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962)
who knows if the moon's
Language: English
who knows if the moon's
a balloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky--filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should
get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we'd go up higher with all the pretty people
than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody's ever visited,where
always
it's
Spring)and everyone's
in love and flowers pick themselves
About the headline (FAQ)
Note: this poem entered the public domain in 2021.
Text Authorship:
- by E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894 - 1962), no title, appears in & [AND], in 2. N, in 1. &:Seven Poems, no. 7, 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 Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019), "who knows if the moon's a balloon", from Songs about Spring, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Margaret Garwood (1927 - 2015), "Who knows if the moon's a balloon", published 1963 [ soprano and piano ], from Lovesongs: 6 Songs to Poems of E. E. Cummings [sung text not yet checked]
- by Patrick Harrex (b. c1946), "Who knows if the moon's", published 1969, copyright © 1969 [ female voice, flute, percussion ], from Sonata, no. 2, London, Ars Viva [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "always, it's Spring", 1985 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 78