Can it be right to give what I can give?

Can it be right to give what I can give?
To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears
As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years
Re-sighing on my lips renunciative
Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live
For all thy adjurations? O my fears,
That this can scarce be right! We are not peers
So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve,
That givers of such gifts as mine are, must
Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas!
I will not soil thy purple with my dust,
Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,
Nor give thee any love--which were unjust.
Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 9, 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 Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942) , "Can it be right to give what I can give?", published 1907 [mezzo-soprano and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 9.
by Bernard James Naylor (1907-1986) , "Can it be right to give what I can give?", 1948, first performed 1955 [mezzo-soprano and string quartet], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. ?

GER German (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Date added to the website: 2007-12-16.

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Hab ich ein Recht, zu geben, was ich...

Hab ich ein Recht, zu geben, was ich kann?
Darf ich in dieser Tränen Niederschlage
dich bleiben heißen. Die durchseufzten Tage
heben auf meinem Munde wieder an
zwischen dem Lächeln, das, wie du's beschwörst,
doch nicht zu leben wagt. O ich bin bang,
daß das nicht recht sein kann. Wir sind im Rang
nicht gleich genug für Liebende. Du hörst:
wer andres nicht zu geben hat, der muß
nicht Geber werden. Ein für alle Mal.
Dein Purpur bleibe rein von meinem Ruß
und unbeschlagen klar dein Glas-Pokal.
Nichts geben will ich; unrecht wäre das.
Nur lieben vor mich hin, Geliebter. Laß -.

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) , from Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 9, published 1908

a text in English by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 9, 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)

[ None yet in the database ]

Date added to the website: 2009-02-19.