by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
My first well day, since many ill
Language: English
Available translation(s): GER
My first well day, since many ill, I asked to go abroad And take the sunshine in my hands, And see the things in pod A 'blossom just when I went in, To take my chance with pain, Uncertain if myself or he Should prove the strongest one. The summer deepened while we strove. She put some flowers away, And redder cheeked ones in their stead, A fond, illusive way. To cheat herself it seemed she tried, As if before a child To fade. Tomorrow rainbows held, The sepulcher could hide. She dealt a fashion to the nut, She tied the hoods to seeds. She dropped bright scraps of tint about, And left Brazilian threads On every shoulder that she met, Then both her hands of haze Put up, to hide her parting grace From our unfitted eyes. My loss by sickness, was it loss, Or that ethereal gain One earns by measuring the grave, Then measuring the sun?
About the headline (FAQ)
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), "My first well day, since many ill" [soprano and piano], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 3 : Almost Peace, no. 17. [ sung text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Barbara Miller , Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 28
Word count: 159