by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848)
Enough of thought philosopher
Language: English
Enough of thought philosopher Too long as thou been dreaming Unenlightened, in this chamber drear While summers sun is beaming Space sweeping soul, what sad refrain Concludes thy musing once again? "Oh for the time when I shall sleep Without identity And never care how rain may steep Or snow may cover me! No promised heaven, these wild desires Could all or half fulfil? No threatened hell with quenchless fires Subdue this quenchless will! So said I and still say the same Still to my death will say Three gods within this little frame Are warring night and day Heaven could not hold them all and yet They all are held in me And must be mine till I forget My present entity Oh for the time when in my breast Their struggles will be o'er Oh for the day, when I shall rest And never suffer more! I saw a spirit, standing man Where thou doth stand an hour ago And round his feet three rivers ran Of equal depth and equal flow A golden stream and one like blood And one like sapphire seemed to be But where they joined their triple flood It tumbled in an inky sea The spirit sent his dazzling gaze Down through that oceans gloomy night Then kindling all with sudden blaze The glad deep sparkled wide and bright White as the sun far far more fair Then its divided sources were And even for that spirit, seer I watched and sought my life-time long Sought him in heaven, hell, earth and air An endless search and always wrong! Had I but seen his glorious eye Once light the clouds that wilder me I ne're had raised this coward cry To cease to think and cease to be I ne'er had called oblivion blest Nor, stretching eager hands to death Implored to change for senseless rest This sentient soul this living breath Oh let me die that power and will Their cruel strife may close And conquered good and conquering ill Be lost in one repose
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Note: in the Fisk work, this is sung by CatherineAuthorship:
- by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848) [author's text not yet checked 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 Terry Fisk , "Enough of thought philosopher", published 2002 [voice, piano], from Wuthering Heights, no. 23. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Terry Fisk
This text was added to the website: 2004-03-22
Line count: 56
Word count: 343