by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Skirting the river road, (my forenoon...
Language: English
Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles, The rushing amorous contact high in space together, The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel, Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling, In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling, Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull, A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing, Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight, She hers, he his, pursuing.
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Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "The Dalliance of the Eagles" [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 Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "The dalliance of the eagles", published 1966 [ SATB chorus and orchestra or piano ], from Songs of Walt Whitman, NY : E. B. Marks [sung text not yet checked]
- by Oliver Knussen, CBE (1952 - 2018), "The dalliance of the eagles", op. 25 no. 3 (1991) [ soprano and piano ], from Whitman Settings, no. 3, confirmed with a score [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joe LoCascio (b. 1955), "The Dalliance of Eagles", published 2017, copyright © 2017, first performed 2017 [ soprano voice and piano ], from Six Songs on Poems of Walt Whitman, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-20
Line count: 10
Word count: 94