by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)
I lived with visions for my company
Language: English
I lived with visions for my company Instead of men and women, years ago, And found them gentle mates, nor thought to know A sweeter music than they played to me. But soon their trailing purple was not free Of this world's dust, their lutes did silent grow, And I myself grew faint and blind below Their vanishing eyes. Then thou didst come--to be, Beloved, what they seemed. Their shining fronts, Their songs, their splendours, (better, yet the same, As river-water hallowed into fonts) Met in thee, and from out thee overcame My soul with satisfaction of all wants: Because God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), no title, appears in Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 26, 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), "I lived with visions for my company", published 1910 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 26 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Alexander Kimbell (b. 1946), "I lived with visions for my company", 1965-6 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Sonnets from the Portuguese [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Rainer Maria Rilke) , no title, appears in Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 26, first published 1908
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-12-14
Line count: 14
Word count: 108