by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
The last night that she lived
Language: English
The last night that she lived, It was a common night, Except the dying; this to us Made nature different. We noticed smallest things, - Things overlooked before, By this great light upon our minds Italicized, as 't were. That others could exist While she must finish quite, A jealousy for her arose So nearly infinite. We waited while she passed; It was a narrow time, Too jostled were our souls to speak, At length the notice came. She mentioned, and forgot; Then lightly as a reed Bent to the water, shivered scarce, Consented, and was dead. And we, we placed the hair, And drew the head erect; And then an awful leisure was, Our faith to regulate.
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Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [author's text not yet checked 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 Fania Chapiro (1926 - 1994), "The last night that she lived", 1988, from Three songs of death, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alva Henderson (b. 1940), "The last night that she lived" [ chorus ] [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: 24
Word count: 117