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by James Joyce (1882 - 1941)

Nuvoletta in her light dress
Language: English 
Nuvoletta in her light dress,
spunn of sisteen shimmers,
was looking down on them,
leaning over the bannistars
and list'ning all she childishly could...
She was alone.
All her nubied companions
were asleeping with the squir'ls...
She tried all the winsome wonsome ways
her four winds had taught her.
She tossed her sfumastelliacinous hair
like la princesse de la Petite Bretagne
and she rounded her mignons arms
like Missis Cornwallis-West
and she smiled over herself
like the image of the pose
of the daughter of the Emperour of Irelande
and she sighed after herself as were she born
to bride with Tristis Tristior ristissimus.
But, sweet madonnine, she might fair as well
have carried her daisy's worth to Florida...
Oh, how it was duusk. From Vallee Maraia to Grasyaplaina,
dormimust echo! Ah dew! Ah dew!
It was so duusk that the tears of night began to fall,
first by ones and twos, then by threes and fours,
at last by fives and sixes of sevens,
for the tired ones were wecking;
as we weep now with them. O! O! Par la pluie...
Then Nuvoletta reflected for the last time
in her little long life
and she made up all her myriads of drifting minds in one.
She cancelled all her engauzements.
She climbed over the bannistars;
she gave a childy cloudy cry:
Nuée! Nuée!
A light dress fluttered.
She was gone.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), no title, appears in Finnegan's Wake, extracts from pp. 157-9 [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 Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "Nuvoletta", op. 25 (1947), published 1952 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 37
Word count: 220

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