1990

We dream — it is good we are dreaming —

Composed by Leo Smit

Beyond Circumference Song Collection

"We dream — it is good we are dreaming —" is the fifteenth song in Leo Smit's song cycle Beyond Circumference. Beyond Circumference is the fourth of Smit's six song cycles setting the poetry of Emily Dickinson. For more information about Leo Smit's Emily Dickinson song cycles, please visit the pages for The Ecstatic Pilgrimage and Leo Smit. For inquiries about Leo Smit and to obtain sheet music, please contact Nils Vigeland at nvigeland@optonline.net.

Text

We dream — it is good we are dreaming — (poem 531)
by Emily Dickinson

We dream — it is good we are dreaming —
It would hurt us — were we awake —
But since it is playing — kill us,
And we are playing — shriek —

What harm? Men die — externally —
It is a truth — of Blood —
But we — are dying in Drama —
And Drama — is never dead —

Cautious — We jar each other —
And either — open the eyes —
Lest the Phantasm — prove the Mistake —
And the livid Surprise

Cool us to Shafts of Granite —
With just an Age — and Name —
And perhaps a phrase in Egyptian —
It’s prudenter — to dream —