by Edgar Lee Masters (1868 - 1950)
Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom, and...
Language: English
Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom, and Charley, The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter? All, all, are sleeping on the hill. One passed in a fever, One was burned in a mine, One was killed in a brawl, One died in jail, One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife -- All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill. Where are Ella, Kate, Mag, Lizzie, and Edith, The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the happy one? -- All, all, are sleeping on the hill. One died in shameful child-birth, One of a thwarted love, One at the hands of a brute in a brothel, One of a broken pride, in a search for a heart's desire, One after life in faraway London and Paris Was brought to her little space by Ella and Kate and Mag -- All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill. Where are Uncle Issac and Aunt Emily, And old Towny Kincaid and Sevigne Houghton, And Major Walker who had talked With venerable men of the revolution? -- All, all, are sleeping on the hill. They brought them dead sons from the war, And daughters whom life had crushed, And their children fatherless, crying -- All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill. Where is old Fiddler Jones Who played with life all his ninety years, Braving the sleet with bared breast, Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin, Nor gold, nor love, nor heaven? Lo! he babbles of the fish-frys of long ago, Of the horse-races long ago at Clary's Grove, Of what Abe Lincoln said One time at Springfield.
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Text Authorship:
- by Edgar Lee Masters (1868 - 1950), "The hill", appears in Spoon River Anthology, first published 1916 [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 Gino Negri (b. 1919), "For the hill", published 1948 [ soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, and bass solo voices, SATB chorus, and orchestra ], from Antologia di Spoon River [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-26
Line count: 37
Word count: 278