I stand at the edge of great quiet
Language: English
Chosen for Diff
I stand at the edge of great quiet. The air is mute, so still, so cold That even light congeals; Pale columns beam the fragile sky. My breath is all that moves; Each puff comes visible And vanishes, absorbed; Each adds a mote of frost. If I breathed out and out until my life was given to this frozen day, would any tree or branch, would any twig, become more white?
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Louise Gallop, On a Day of White Trees, in: DCC News, nov-dec 2011, Denali Citizens Council, p.7
Text Authorship:
- by Louise Gallop , "On a Day of White Trees" [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 Cynthia Folio , "At the Edge of Great Quiet", copyright © 2014 [ ssaa chorus and piano ], from At the Edge of Great Quiet, no. 3, Hildegard Publishing Company
Publisher: Hildegard Publishing Company [external link] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 71