2001
What the Miner in the Desert Said
Composed by 
Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie Text by 
Vachel Lindsay
Vachel Lindsay The Moon Is a Mirror Song Collection
"What the Miner in the Desert Said" is the second song of Jake Heggie's song cycle The Moon is a Mirror.
Text
What the Miner in the Desert Said
by Vachel Lindsay
The moon’s a brass-hooped water-keg,
A wondrous water-feast.
If I could climb the ridge and drink
And give drink to my beast;
If I could drain that keg, the flies
Would not be biting so,
My burning feet be spry again,
My mule no longer slow.
And I could rise and dig for ore,
And reach my fatherland,
And not be food for ants and hawks
And perish in the sand.
Sheet Music