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by Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946)

From the Dark Tower
Language: English 
We shall not always plant while others reap
The golden increment of bursting fruit,
Not always countenance, abject and mute,
That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;
Not everlastingly while others sleep
Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,
Not always bend to some more subtle brute;
We were not made to eternally weep.
The night whose sable breast relieves the stark,
White stars is no less lovely being dark,
And there are buds that cannot bloom at all
In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall;
So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,
And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.

Text Authorship:

  • by Countee Cullen (1903 - 1946), "From the Dark Tower" [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 Dorothy Rudd Moore (1940 - 2022), "From the Dark Tower", 1972 [ mezzo-soprano, cello, piano ], from From the Dark Tower, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "From the Dark Tower", op. 27 no. 1 [ high voice and piano ], from Three Countee Cullen Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 105

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