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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

The first day's night had come
Language: English 
The first day's night had come,
And grateful that a thing
So terrible had been endured,
I told my soul to sing.
 
She said her strings were snapped,
Her bow to atoms blown,
And so to mend her gave me work
Until another morn.
 
And then a day as huge
As yesterdays in pairs
Unrolled its horror in my face
Until it blocked my eyes,
 
My brain began to laugh,
I mumbled like a fool,
And though 'tis years ago, that day,
My brain keeps giggling still.
 
And something's odd within;
That person that I was
And this one do not feel the same,
Could it be madness, this?

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [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 Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "The first day's night had come" [soprano and piano], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 2 : So We Must Meet Apart, no. 10. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 20
Word count: 109

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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