4.18.2011

Poetry: The Heart Asks Pleasure First (Emily Dickinson)

THE HEART ASKS PLEASURE FIRST

What is the human heart? This poem by Dickinson transformed into song by Nyman a century later describes it aptly I think. The human heart asks pleasure first...then pleads for quietude...only to repeat its beating, bleeding song and dance all over again!

SONG (MICHAEL NYMAN):

POEM (EMILY DICKINSON):
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering;

And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.

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