by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)
Beloved, my Beloved, when I think
Language: English
Beloved, my Beloved, when I think That thou wast in the world a year ago, What time I sat alone here in the snow And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink No moment at thy voice, but, link by link, Went counting all my chains as if that so They never could fall off at any blow Struck by thy possible hand, -- why, thus I drink Of life's great cup of wonder! Wonderful, Never to feel thee thrill the day or night With personal act or speech, -- nor ever cull Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull, Who cannot guess God's presence out of sight.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 20, first published 1850 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864 - 1942), "Beloved, my Beloved, when I think", published 1910 [medium voice and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 20. [text not verified]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Rainer Maria Rilke) , no title, from Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 20, published 1908
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-12-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 114