by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
In falling timbers buried
Language: English
In falling timbers buried There breathed a man. Outside the spades were plying, The lungs within. Could he know they sought him, Could they know he breathed, Horrid sand partition, Neither could be heard. Never slacked the diggers, But when spades had done, Oh reward of anguish, It was dying then. Many things are fruitless, 'Tis a baffling earth, But there is no gratitude Like the Grace of death.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Bolts of Melody [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 Gloria Coates (b. 1938), "In falling timbers buried", from 15 Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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: 69