The John Cageblog

Someone in comments recently requested the cummings poem that Cage set in Forever and Sunsmell.  Here it is.  Words actually present in the music are bold; those not bold were omitted by Cage.


      wherelings whenlings
      (daughters of ifbut offspring of hopefear
      sons of unless and children of almost)
      never shall guess the dimension of
      him whose
      each
      foot likes the
      here of this earth
      whose both
      eyes
      love
      this now of the sky
      --endlings of isn’t
      shall never
      begin
      to begin to
      imagine how (only are shall be were
      dawn dark rain snow rain
      -bow &
      a
      moon
      ‘s whis-
      per
      in sunset
      or thrushes toward dusk among whippoorwills or
      tree field rock hollyhock forest brook chickadee
      mountain.  Mountain)
      whycoloured worlds of because do
      not stand against yes which is built by
      forever & sunsmell
      (sometimes a wonder
      of wild roses
      sometimes)
      with north
      over
      the barn

The song also repeats several sections, particularly “foot likes the here of this earth.”