CHICAGO POEMS: five poems by Carl Sandburg
Emily Howard, mezzo-soprano and Beth Levin, piano
Univ. of Manchester (UK) 17 Nov. 2011 ca. 7.5 min.
After traveling regularly to Chicago for many years,
this is my interpretation, through words of Sandburg,
of how I remember different parts of the city.
2nd Prize; AFC & Schubert Society of St. Paul Art Song contest.
Chicago Poems
Five poems by Carl Sandburg
I. I Sang
I sang to you and the moon
But only the moon remembers.
I sang
O reckless free-hearted
free-throated rhythms,
Even the moon remembers them
And is kind to me.
II. Nocturne in a Deserted Brickyard
Stuff of the moon
Runs on the lapping sand
Out to the longest shadows.
Under the curving willows,
And round the creep of the wave line,
Fluxions of yellow and dusk on the waters
Make a wide dreaming pansy of an old pond in the night.
III. Poppies
She loves blood-red poppies for a garden to walk in.
In a loose white gown she walks
and a new child tugs at cords in her body.
Her head to the west at evening when the dew is creeping,
A shudder of gladness runs in her bones and torsal fiber:
She loves blood-red poppies for a garden to walk in.
IV. Aloof
Fire of winter sunset,
Your talk is red and gold
In smoldering shadows.
Monolog of day and night
between sun and stars,
You are an old man
Who chooses few words.
V. Night Bells
Two bells six bells two bells six bells
On a blue pavilion
Out across a smooth blue pavilion
And between each bell
One clear cry of a woman
"Lord God You made the night too long too long."