by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)
On the breakwater in the summer dark, a...
Language: English
On the breakwater in the summer dark, a man and a girl are sitting, She across his knee and they are looking face into face Talking to each other without words, singing rhythms in silence to each other. A funnel of white ranges the blue dusk from an out-going boat, Playing its searchlight, puzzled, abrupt, over a streak of green, And two on the breakwater keep their silence, she on his knee.
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Text Authorship:
- by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), "On the Breakwater" [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 Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947), "Songs From the Shore; On the breakwater", subtitle: "Lake Michigan", 2018/2022, copyright © 2023 [ soprano, baritone and piano ], from The Great Lakes, no. 5, E.C.Schirmer
Score: ECS Publishing [external link] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-02-21
Line count: 6
Word count: 72