The level bee (Dickinson, set by A. Farwell) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry

Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms. 

His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid. 

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Arthur Farwell (1872-1952)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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