by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848)
Riches I hold in light esteem
Language: English
Riches I hold in light esteem, And Love I laugh to scorn; And lust of fame was but a dream That vanish'd with the morn; And if I pray, the only prayer That moves my lips for me Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear, And give me liberty!" Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 'T is all that I implore: In life and death a chainless soul, With courage to endure.
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Text Authorship:
- by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), "The old stoic", from 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 J. Henry Bove (1897 - 1963), "Riches I hold in light esteem", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "The old stoic", 1970, published 1977 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Songs on Poems by Emily Brontë, no. 5, Southern/NY [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "The old stoic", op. 18 no. 1 [ low voice and piano ], from 3 Songs for a Deep Voice and Piano, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "The old stoic", 2003 [ voice and piano ], from A rustling of angels, no. 11 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-12-06
Line count: 12
Word count: 75