Indeed this very love which is my boast

Indeed this very love which is my boast,
And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
Doth crown me with a ruby large enow
To draw men's eyes and prove the inner cost, -- 
This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
I should not love withal, unless that thou
Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,
And love called love.  And thus, I cannot speak
Of love even, as a good thing of my own:
Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,
And placed it by thee on a golden throne, -- 
And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!)
Is by thee only, whom I love alone.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 12, 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 Louis Cheslock (1898-1981) , "Indeed this very love which is my boast" [mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano]
by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942) , "Indeed this very love which is my boast", published 1910 [medium voice and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 12.
by Bernard James Naylor (1907-1986) , "Indeed this very love which is my boast", 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: 2008-07-23.

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Doch die mein Stolz ist, diese Liebe,...

Doch die mein Stolz ist, diese Liebe, die,
aufsteigend aus der Brust zu meinen Brauen,
die Menschen nötigt, nach mir her zu schauen,
wie ein Rubin, dem man es ansieht, wie
kostbar er ist, - mein Köstlichstes: auch sie
hätt ich nicht lieben können, wäre nicht
dein Beispiel vor mir: hätte dein Gesicht
sich mir nicht zugekehrt, ernst wie noch nie
Liebe begehrend. So daß ich die meine
nicht nennen darf wie mir entstammt und mein.
Denn deine Seele hob mich auf als eine
Hinschwindende zu deinem Thron. Und daß
ich liebe den ich liebe (Seele laß
uns Demut lernen) kommt von dir allein.

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) , no title, from Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 12, published 1908

a text in English by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 12, 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)

[ None yet in the database ]

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