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Love’s Stricken “Why”
by Emily Dickinson
Love’s stricken, “why”
Is all that love can speak —
Built of but just a syllable
The hugest hearts that break.
"Love's Stricken 'Why'" is the fourth and 14th song in Ned Rorem's song cycle Poems of Love and Rain for mezzo-soprano and piano.
In this song cycle, Rorem sets each poem twice, and the poems mirror each other in their order (i.e. the first poem is also the last poem, the second is also the second to last, etc.)
Love’s Stricken “Why”
by Emily Dickinson
Love’s stricken, “why”
Is all that love can speak —
Built of but just a syllable
The hugest hearts that break.