Ample make this Bed --
Make this Bed with Awe --
In it wait till Judgment break
Excellent and Fair.
Be its Mattress straight --
Be its Pillow round --
Let no Sunrise' yellow noise
Interrupt this Ground --
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
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), "No sunrise", 1960-70 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Farwell (1872 - 1952), "Ample make this bed", op. 108 (Ten Emily Dickinson Songs) no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daron Aric Hagen (b. 1961), "Ample make this bed", 1989 [ voice and piano ], from Love in a Life, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jake Heggie (b. 1961), "Ample make this bed", 2000, first performed 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from How Well I Knew the Light, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Brian Holmes (b. 1946), "Ample make this bed" [ soprano, chorus, children's chorus, and orchestra ], from Amherst Requiem, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Michael M. Horvit (b. 1932), "Ample make this bed", published 1970 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Songs of Elegy [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ulysses Simpson Kay (1917 - 1995), "Ample make this bed", published 1964 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Emily Dickinson Set [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Leisner (b. 1958), "Ample make this Bed", 1986 [ voice and piano or guitar ], from Confiding, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Rendi spazioso questo letto", copyright © 2008, (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: 8
Word count: 34
Fais ce lit Ample --
Fais ce Lit avec Crainte et Respect --
Dedans attends jusqu'à l'interruption du Jugement
Excellent et Juste.
Que son Matelas soit plat --
Que son Oreiller soit rond --
Qu'aucun bruit jaune de Soleil
Ne gêne cet endroit.