by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848)
Cold in the earth, the deep snow piled...
Language: English
Cold in the earth, the deep snow piled above thee! Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave! Have I forgot, my Only Love, to love thee, Severed at last by Time's all wearing wave? Cold in the earth, and [fifteen]1 wild Decembers From those brown hills have melted into spring Faithful [indeed the]2 spirit that remembers [After years]3 of change and suffering! Sweet love of youth, forgive if I forget thee While the World's tide is bearing me along; [Other desires and darker hopes beset me Hopes which obscure but cannot do thee wrong]4 No other [Sun]5 has lightened up my heaven; No [other Star]6 has ever shone for me; All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given all my life's bliss is in the grave with thee. But when the days of golden dreams had perished [Even]7 despair was powerless to destroy [Then I did learn how existence could be cherished Strengthened and fed without the aid of joy]4 Then did I check the tears of useless passion, Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; [Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten Down to that tomb already more then mine]4 And even yet, I dare not let it languish Dare not indulge in Memory's rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that [divinest]8 anguish, How could I seek the empty world again?
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Note: in the Fisk work, this is sung by Heathcliff
1 Fisk: "eighteen"
2 Fisk: "indeed is the"
3 Fisk: "After such years"
4 omitted by Mitchell
5 Fisk: "light"
6 Fisk: "second morn"
7 Fisk: "And even"
8 Fisk: "divine"
Text Authorship:
- by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), "Remembrance", appears in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, first published 1846 [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), "Remembrance", 1961, published 1966 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Songs on Poems by Emily Brontë, no. 1, Southern/NY [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Remembrance", published 1977 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Terry Fisk , no title, published 2002 [ voice, piano ], from Wuthering Heights, no. 35 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alfred Jepson , "Remembrance", published 1962 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lothar Klein (b. 1932), "The Grave", 1966 [ high voice and viola ], from Laments from Gondal [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "Remembrance", 1966, rev. 1967 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "Cold in the earth", op. 17 no. 2 (1976), from Visions from the Earth, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Robert) Bruce Montgomery (1921 - 1978), "Remembrance", published 1955 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 226