My God, what is a heart? (Dickinson, set by S. Kagen) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


I Cannot ope mine eyes,
            But thou art ready there to catch
            My morning-soul and sacrifice:
Then we must needs for that day make a match.

		            My God, what is a heart?
            Silver, or gold, or precious stone,
            Or starre, or rainbow, or a part
Of all these things, or all of them in one?
	
		            My God, what is a heart?
            That thou shouldst it so eye, and wooe,
            Powring upon it all thy art,
As if that thou hadst nothing els to do?

		            Indeed mans whole estate
            Amounts (and richly) to serve thee:
            He did not heav'n and earth create,
Yet studies them, not him by whom they be.

		            Teach me thy love to know;
            That this new light, which now I see,
            May both the work and workman show:
Then by a sunne-beam I will climbe to thee.

Note: this is sometimes misattributed to Emily Dickinson, who copied the second and third stanzas into one of her notebooks. The lines were mistakenly thought to be her work and published under her name.

Authorship

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

George Herbert (1593-1633)

The Temple

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

Sergius Kagen (1909-1964)

The Mob Within the Heart

Date added to the website: 2008-09-23.

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