I, being born a woman and distressed (Millay, set by (Robert Manno, Tobias Picker)) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)

I, being born a woman and distressed

Language: English

Available translation(s): FRI

I, being born a woman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.
Think not for this, however, the poor treason
Of my stout blood against my staggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity, -- let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again.

About the headline (FAQ)

First published 1922

Authorship

by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "Sonnet VIII", appears in The Harp-Weaver and other poems, in Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree, first published 1923 [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 Robert Manno (b. 1944), "I, being born a woman and distressed", published 1975 [soprano, piano], from Portrait of Millay, no. 1. [
text verified 1 time
]
by Tobias Picker (b. 1954), "When we meet again (Sonnet)", published 1985, first performed 1987 [medium voice or high voice and piano], Schott Helicon Music Corporation (BMI) [
text verified 1 time
]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Robert Manno

This text was added to the website: 2005-06-08
Line count: 14
Word count: 107