Quite a number of years ago, I wrote a song based on Emily Dickinson's poem "The Sun Just Touched the Morning," but I never actually wrote it down. My notes for the song are really nothing but a bunch of chicken scratch. (see below on the right). Today I sat at the piano and wrote it out, and I've posted it down below.
| Here's the poem: The Sun – just touched the Morning – The Morning – Happy thing – Supposed that He had come to dwell – And Life would all be Spring! She felt herself supremer – A Raised – Ethereal Thing! Henceforth – for Her – What Holiday! Meanwhile – Her wheeling King – Trailed – slow – along the Orchards – His haughty – spangled Hems – Leaving a new necessity! The want of Diadems! The Morning – fluttered – staggered – Felt feebly – for Her Crown – Her unanointed forehead – Henceforth – Her only One! | Below: When I say my notes were nothing but "chicken scratch," I wasn't joking:  |
Below is the music. Click the images to enlarge. Here are a couple of things to note:
* For the lyrics, I repeat the third and fourth lines of the poem.
* Also, from the seventh line, I repeat the words "for Her -- What Holiday!"
* For the eleventh line, I omitted the word "a" (so "Leaving a new necessity" is "Leaving new necessity).
* I made a change with the music too -- you'll see that I've omitted the 13th bar of music on Page 1.
* I don't have a metronome to note the exact speed -- but play it slow to moderate.
| Here are the complete lyrics: The Sun – just touched the Morning – The Morning – Happy thing – Supposed that He had come to dwell – And Life would all be Spring! Supposed that He had come to dwell – And Life would all be Spring! She felt herself supremer – A Raised – Ethereal Thing! Henceforth – for Her – What Holiday! For Her – What Holiday! Meanwhile – Her wheeling King – Trailed – slow – along the Orchards – His haughty – spangled Hems – Leaving new necessity! The want of Diadems! The Morning – fluttered – staggered – Felt feebly – for Her Crown – Her unanointed forehead – Henceforth – Her only One! | PAGE 1  |
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As an introduction to the song in the video below, I played the first 8 measures an octave higher -- and then I played the song as written..
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