Joy

"Joy" is the third song of Ruth Crawford Seeger's Five Songs, which sets the poems of Carl Sandburg.

Date: 1929Composer: Ruth Crawford SeegerText: Carl SandburgSong Collection: Five Songs

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Text

Joy
by Carl Sandburg

Let a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere —
Let joy kill you!
Keep away from the little deaths.

Sheet Music

Five Songs

Composer(s): Ruth Crawford Seeger

Song(s): 1. Home Thoughts
2. White Moon
3. Joy
4. Loam
5. Sunsets

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