What My Lips Have Kissed

"What My Lips Have Kissed" is an art song composed by Margaret Bonds with text derived from a poem by Edna St Vincent Millay. The song is part of Bonds' song cycle, Four Songs.

Date: 1965Composer: Margaret BondsText: Edna St. Vincent MillaySong Collection: Four Songs

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Audio

Track:

    Text

    What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
    I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
    Under my head till morning; but the rain
    Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
    Upon the glass and listen for reply,
    And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
    For unremembered lads that not again
    Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
    Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
    Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
    Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
    I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
    I only know that summer sang in me
    A little while, that in me sings no more.

    Recordings

    Show Me the Way

    (Jasmine Barnes, Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen and Florence Price)

    2024

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