by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)
Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
Language: English
Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear Too calm and sad a face in front of thine; For we two look two ways, and cannot shine With the same sunlight on our brow and hair. On me thou lookest with no doubting care, As on a bee shut in a crystalline; Since sorrow hath shut me safe in love's divine, And to spread wing and fly in the outer air Were most impossible failure, if I strove To fail so. But I look on thee -- on thee -- Beholding, besides love, the end of love, Hearing oblivion beyond memory; As one who sits and gazes from above, Over the rivers to the bitter sea.
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Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 15, first published 1850 [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 Eleanor Everest Freer (1864 - 1942), "Accuse me not, beseech thee", published 1910 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 15 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert William Jones (1932 - 1997), "Sonnet from the Portuguese, 15", 1972, first performed 1973 [ soprano and string quartet ], from Love Song [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernest Campbell MacMillan (1893 - 1973), "Sonnet", published 1929 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) , no title, appears in Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 15, first published 1908 ; composed by Erich Anders.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-12-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 114