The Swarm (Beam, set by L. Hoiby) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


First, the miraculous
droning, sibilant
dances directing and thumping, 
buzzing in the foundation,
snipping and cutting
green air. 
A great muffled drum,
the chorus tenses.
Its sibyls pour out 
in a drunken jet
to sing it:the bee-flock,
the thunder-polleners 
who tell exodus in a roaring tissue
their matriarch with them
throbbing Exalt! 
Exalt! up to the pear tree.
Then, from the mass molten
with magnetism and cracks, 
a yawn explodes, clumps
to the pear limb,
and silences. 
Even now, scouts shuttle
through the branches making
fiery mummery to the sun: 
inciting compass.
The fathoming nucleus
waits for the telling. 
This is a thing,
some will say,
men will not do.

Input by Jeffery Beam

Authorship

Jeffery Beam

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

Lee Hoiby (1926-)

The Life of the Bee

Date added to the website: 2009-10-29.

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