Sometimes she is a child within mine arms,
  [Cowering]1 beneath dark wings that love must chase,
  With still tears [showering]2 and averted face,
Inexplicably filled with faint alarms:
And oft from mine own spirit's hurtling harms
  I crave the refuge of her deep embrace, --
  Against all ills the fortified strong place
And sweet reserve of [sovereign]3 counter-charms.

And Love, our light at night and shade at noon,
  Lulls us to rest with songs, and turns away
  All shafts of shelterless tumultuous day.
Like the moon's growth, his face gleams through his tune;
And as soft waters warble to the moon,
  Our [answering]4 spirits chime one roundelay.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Volume 1, London, Ellis and Elvey, 1888, page 187.

¹ Vaughan Williams: "Cow'ring"
² Vaughan Williams: "show'ring"
³ Vaughan Williams: "sov'reign"
⁴ Vaughan Williams: "answ'ring"

Text Authorship:

• by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882), "Heart's Haven", appears in Ballads and Sonnets, first published 1881 [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 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Heart's haven", 1903, published 1904 [ voice and piano ], from The House of Life, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Przystań serca", Warsaw, Księgarnia H. Antenberga, first published 1907

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 106