1957
Drum
Composed by 
Hermann Reutter
Hermann Reutter Text by 
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes My Dark Hands Song Collection
German composer Hermann Reutter's song "Drum" (or "Trommel" in German) sets a poem of Langston Hughes. This song is the second song in Reutter's song cycle My Dark Hands (Meine Dunklen Hände) and can be sung in either German or the original English.
Text
Drum
by Langston Hughes
Bear in mind
That death is a drum
Beating forever
Till the last worms come
To answer its call,
Till the last stars fall,
Until the last atom
Is no atom at all,
Until time is lost
And there is no air
And space itself
Is nothing nowhere,
Death is a drum,
A signal drum,
Calling life
To come!
Come!
Come!
Related Information
Audio
“Trommel” (“Drum”) (from “My Dark Hands”)
Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Malcolm Martineau (piano)1:11
Sheet Music