Pain has an element of blank (2014) - Emily Dickinson Cycle

Pain has an element of blank (2014)

Performed by Danielle Sampson, Tyler Catlin, and SFCM Musicians
Poetry by Emily Dickinson

For chamber orchestra and mezzo-soprano
Piano version available

1. -  It's such a little thing to weep —
2. -  Wild nights — Wild nights!
3. -  "Faith" is a fine invention
4. -  Heart! We will forget him!
5. -  Success is counted sweetest
6. -  I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
7. -  I'm Nobody! Who are you?
8. -  I taste a liquor never brewed —

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Sheet music available by request

1. - 0:00​

(189)
It's such a little thing to weep —
So short a thing to sigh —
And yet — by Trades — the size of these We men and women die!

2.

(249)
Wild nights — Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile — the Winds —
To a Heart in port —
Done with the Compass —
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden —
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor —
Tonight — In Thee!

3.

(185)
"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see —
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.

4.

(47)
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 may straight begin!
Haste! lest while you're lagging
I remember him!

5.

(67)
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated — dying —
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

6.

(340)
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading — treading — till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through —
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum —
Kept beating — beating — till I thought
My Mind was going numb —
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then space — began to toll,
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange
Race Wrecked, solitary, here —
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down —
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And finished knowing — then —

7. ​

(288)
I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you — Nobody — Too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise — you know!
How dreary — to be — Somebody!
How public — like a Frog —
To tell one's name — the livelong June —
To an admiring Bog!

8.

(214)
I taste a liquor never brewed —
From Tankards scooped in Pearl —
Not all the Vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an Alcohol!
Inebriate of Air — am I —
And Debauchee of Dew —
Reeling — thro endless summer days —
From inns of Molten Blue —
When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee
Out of the Foxglove's door —
When Butterflies — renounce their "drams"—
I shall but drink the more!
Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats —
And Saints — to windows run —
To see the little Tippler
Leaning against the — sun!