by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
There came a day at Summer's full
Language: English
There came a day at Summer's full Entirely for me; I thought that such were for the saints, Where revelations be. The sun, as common, went abroad, The flowers, accustomed, blew, As if no soul the solstice passed That maketh all things new. The time was scarce profaned by speech; The symbol of a word Was needless, as at sacrament The wardrobe of our Lord. Each was to each the sealed church, Permitted to commune this time, Lest we too awkward show At supper of the Lamb. The hours slid fast, as hours will, Clutched tight by greedy hands; So faces on two decks look back, Bound to opposing lands. And so, when all the time had failed, Without external sound, Each bound the other's crucifix, We gave no other bond. Sufficient troth that we shall rise - Deposed, at length, the grave - To that new marriage, justified Through Calvaries of Love!
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Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890 [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 Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "There came a day", published 1971 [ SA chorus and piano ], from Nature [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "There came a day at summer's full" [ soprano and piano ], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 2 : So We Must Meet Apart, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Hawley (b. 1950), "There came a day at Summer's full", first performed 1987 [ SSAATB chorus a cappella ], from Six Dickinson Settings, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ezra Laderman (1924 - 2015), "There came a day at Summer's full", published 1970 [ 2 narrators, piano, and orchestra ], from Magic Prison, melodrama [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: 28
Word count: 153