A Great Hope Fell

"A Great Hope Fell" is the third song of Jake Heggie's song cycle A Great Hope Fell: Songs From Civil War. Please see song cycle page for further details.

Date: 2001Composer: Jake HeggieText: Emily DickinsonSong Collection: A Great Hope Fell: Songs From Civil War

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A Great Hope Fell
by Emily Dickinson

A great Hope fell
You heard no noise
The Ruin was within
Oh cunning wreck that told no tale
And let no Witness in

The mind was built for mighty Freight
For dread occasion planned
How often foundering at Sea
Ostensibly, on Land

A not admitting of the wound
Until it grew so wide
That all my Life had entered it
And there were troughs beside

A closing of the simple lid
That opened to the sun
Until the tender Carpenter
Perpetual nail it down —

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