by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)
Refuge
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE
From my spirit's gray defeat, From my pulse's flagging beat, From my hopes that turned to sand Sifting through my close-clenched hand, From my own fault's slavery, If I can sing, I still am free. For with my singing I can make A refuge for my spirit's sake, A house of shining words, to be My fragile immortality.
Confirmed with Sara Teasdale, Love Songs, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1917, page 53.
Authorship:
- by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Refuge", appears in Love Songs, in 2. Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow, no. 7, first published 1917 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Refuge", 1967 [mezzo-soprano and piano], from Songs Out of Sorrow, Six Songs for Mezzo-soprano, no. 6, Southern/Texas [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Refuge", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-02-13
Line count: 10
Word count: 58