I lift my heavy heart up solemnly

I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,
As once Electra her sepulchral urn,
And, looking in thine eyes, I over-turn
The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see
What a great heap of grief lay hid in me,
And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn
Through the ashen greyness. If thy foot in scorn
Could tread them out to darkness utterly,
It might be well perhaps. But if instead
Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow
The grey dust up,... those laurels on thine head,
O my Beloved, will not shield thee so,
That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred
The hair beneath. Stand further off then! go!

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 5, published 1850

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by William Henry Bell (1873-1946) , "I lift my heavy heart" [voice and piano], from Three songs: words from "Sonnets from the Portuguese", no. ?
by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942) , "I lift my heavy heart up solemnly", published 1907 [mezzo-soprano and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 5.
by (Charles) Alfred de Kaiser (1872-1917) , "Ashes", published 1912 [soprano and piano], from Seven Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. ?

GER German (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Date added to the website: 2007-12-14.

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