Thou comest! all is said without a word

Thou comest! all is said without a word.
I sit beneath thy looks, as children do
In the noon-sun, with souls that tremble through
Their happy eyelids from an unaverred
Yet prodigal inward joy.  Behold, I erred
In that last doubt! and yet I cannot rue
The sin most, but the occasion -- that we two
Should for a moment stand unministered
By a mutual presence.  Ah, keep near and close,
Thou dove-like help! and when my fears would rise,
With thy broad heart serenely interpose:
Brood down with thy divine sufficiencies
These thoughts which tremble when bereft of those,
Like callow birds left desert to the skies.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 31, published 1847

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) , "Thou comest! all is said without a word", published 1910 [medium voice and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 31.
by Peter Tahourdin (1928-2009) , "Thou comest! all is said without a word", 1968, first performed 1970 [cantata for speaker, alto, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two violins, viola, violoncello, and tape], from Riders in Paradise, no. ?

GER German (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Date added to the website: 2008-07-24.

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