Robert F. Baksa: Emily Dickinson Songs (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Much madness is divinest sense
To [a]¹ discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
'Tis the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane,
Demur, - you're straightaway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.

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¹ ? : "the"

2. I took my power in my hand

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

DUT

Dutch


I took my power in my hand.
And went against the world;
'T was not so much as David had,
But I was twice as bold.

I aimed my pebble, but myself
Was all the one that fell.
Was it Goliath was too large,
Or only I too small?

3. What inn is this

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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What inn is this
Where for the night
Peculiar traveller comes?
Who is the landlord?
Where the maids?
Behold, what curious rooms!
No ruddy fires on the hearth,
No brimming tankards flow.
Necromancer, landlord,
Who are these below?

4. I died for beauty

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems of Emily Dickinson

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I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.
"And I for truth, - the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

5. The soul selects her own society

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems of Emily Dickinson


The soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.

6. A shady friend for torrid days

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson


A shady friend for torrid days
Is easier to find
Than one of higher temperature
For frigid hour of mind.

The vane a little to the east
Scares muslin souls away;
If broadcloth breasts are firmer
Than those of organdy,

Who is to blame? The weaver?
Ah! the bewildering thread!
The tapestries of paradise
So notelessly are made!

7. I'm nobody

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

GER

German

ITA

Italian


I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd [banish us]¹, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell [your]² name the livelong [day]³
To an admiring bog!

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¹ G. Coates: "advertise"
² G. Coates: "one's
³ G. Coates: "June"

8. Two butterflies went out at noon

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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Two butterflies went out at noon
And waltzed above a stream,
Then stepped straight through the firmament
And rested on a beam;

And then together bore away
Upon a shining sea, -
Though never yet, in any port,
Their coming mentioned be.

If spoken by the distant bird,
If met in ether sea
By frigate or by merchantman,
Report was not to me.

9. Heart! we will forget him

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

FRE

French


Heart, we will forget him
You and I, tonight.
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me,
That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you're lagging,
I may remember him!

10. No matter - now - Sweet

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Bolts of Melody


No matter - now - Sweet
 [ ... ]

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11. Poor little heart!

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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Poor little heart!
Did they forget thee?
Then dinna care! Then dinna care!

Proud little heart!
Did they forsake thee?
Be debonair! Be debonair!

Frail little heart!
I would not break thee:
Could'st credit me? Could'st credit me?

Gay little heart!
Like morning glory
Thou'll wilted be; thou'll wilted be!

12. There's a certain slant of light

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems of Emily Dickinson

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There's a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,
'T is the seal, despair, -
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, 't is like the distance
On the look of death.

13. The morns are meeker than they were

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems of Emily Dickinson

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The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

14. When night is almost done

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems of Emily Dickinson


When night is almost done,
And sunrise grows so near
That we can touch the spaces,
It 's time to smooth the hair

And get the dimples ready,
And wonder we could care
For that old faded midnight
That frightened but an hour.

15. Who robbed the woods

Language: English

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Poems by Emily Dickinson

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Who robbed the woods,
The trusting woods?
The unsuspecting trees
Brought out their burrs and mosses
His fantasy to please.
He scanned their trinkets, curious,
He grasped, he bore away.
What will the solemn hemlock,
What will the fir-tree say?