If I leave all for thee | If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)

If I leave all for thee, wilt thou...

Language: English

If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
And be all to me? Shall I never miss
Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss
That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,
When I look up, to drop on a new range
Of walls and floors, another home than this?
Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is
Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change
That's hardest. If to conquer love, has tried,
To conquer grief, tries more, as all things prove,
For grief indeed is love and grief beside.
Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love.
Yet love me--wilt thou? Open thy heart wide,
And fold within, the wet wings of thy dove.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 35, 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), "If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange", published 1910 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 35 [sung text not yet checked]
by Bruno Oscar Klein (1858 - 1911), "If I leave all for thee", op. 59 (Zehn Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 9, published 1898 [ high voice and piano ], Leipzig, Dieckmann, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
by Libby Larsen (b. 1950), "If I leave all for thee", 1991 [ soprano and chamber orchestra or piano ], from Sonnets From the Portuguese , no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Helen Dellenbauch Tretbar (1835 - 1902) , first published 1856 ; composed by Bruno Oscar Klein.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Rainer Maria Rilke) , no title, appears in Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 35, first published 1908

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-12-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 124