by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848)
The pessimist
Language: English
O for the time when I shall sleep without Identity, And never care how rain or snow may cover me! No promised Heav'n these wild Desires Could all or half fulfill; No threatened Hell with quenchless fires subdue this quenchless will! So said I, and still say the same; Still to my Death will say Three Gods within this little frame Are warring night and day. Heaven could not hold them all Yet they all are held in me, And must be mine till I forget My present entity. O for the time when in my breast Their struggles will be o'er; O for the day when I shall rest And never suffer more!
Authorship:
- by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848) [author's text not yet checked 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 Mitchell (b. 1941), "The pessimist", op. 24 no. 14 (1977), from The Earth, the Wind, and the Sky, no. 14. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 114