I just got the following question from my choir director.
We're going to be singing a setting of Richard Wilbur's poem that begins "A stable lamp is lighted..." In the edition we have, a line reads "for stony hearts of men" which is the way I remember it from reading and previous singing.
On the internet, the director has also found a version with a line that reads "for thorny hearts of men" and she likes that better. I'm arguing vigorously against it, but better than argument is textual evidence.
Does anybody own the earlier collection where the poem originally appeared? (Sorry not to identify it here; my collected Wilbur is at home.) Can anybody testify that the line has, or hasn't, always read "stony" in versions approved by the author?
Thank you!
Maryann
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