by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Sing on, sing on, you gray‑brown bird
Language: English
Sing on, sing on, you gray-brown bird, Sing from the swamps, the recesses, pour your chant from the bushes, Limitless [out of the dusk,]1 out of the cedars and pines. Sing on dearest brother, warble your reedy song, Loud human song, with voice of uttermost woe. O liquid and free and tender! O wild and loose to my soul -- O wondrous singer! You only I hear -- yet the star holds me, (but will soon depart,) Yet the lilac with mastering odor holds me.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Sessions
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Memories of President Lincoln, in When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, no. 13 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "Sing on, sing on, you gray-brown bird" [ baritone, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra ], from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
- by Roger Sessions (1896 - 1985), "Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities", from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 2
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail
This text was added to the website: 2005-01-13
Line count: 9
Word count: 83