by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910), as Mark Twain
Now lift up thy head, give me...
Language: English
Now lift up thy head, give me men-at-arms, and let me get about my work. You wish to have me examined first by theologians at Poitiers? I, who am come to be the English scourge? Oh very well. (to audience) They would know if my voices are God's or Satan's. I willingly tell them anything, not all, that I know. But it is most tiresome. One Brother Séguin asked many nagging questions such as, "Did my voices speak good French?" Mon Dieu! I answered the sour little man speaking in his bastard Limousin tongue, "As to that, I believe I cannot say. Still it was an improvement on yours." Then they asked how St. Michael looked when he appeared to me. I said I saw no crown and remember nothing of his clothes. Pressed to say if he was naked, I retorted, "Do you think God cannot afford to clothe him?" These wearisome questions! And while the clerics ponder, Orléans starves and the English prevail.
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Authorship:
- by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910), as Mark Twain, appears in Recollections of Joan of Arc [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):
- [ None yet in the database ]
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by Elizabeth Walton Vercoe (b. 1941), "Gentle little Dauphin -- Come, come from behind", 1986 [mezzo-soprano or soprano and piano], from the a play - incidental music Herstory III: Jehanne de Lorraine, no. 7, confirmed with composer's website
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-02-16
Line count: 22
Word count: 165