I'll come when thou art saddest
Laid alone in the darkened room;
When the mad day's mirth has vanished
And the smile of joy is banished
From evening's chilly gloom.

I'll come when the heart's real feeling
Has entire unbiassed sway,
And my influence o'er thee stealing,
Grief deepening, joy congealing,
Shall bear thy soul away.

Listen, 'tis just the hour,
The awful time for thee;
Dost thou not feel upon thy soul
A flood of strange sensations roll,
Forerunners of a sterner power,
Heralds of me?

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: in the Fisk work, this is sung by Catherine

Text Authorship:

• 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 Ronald A. Beckett , "I'll come when thou art saddest", 2021 [ voice and piano or chamber orchestra ], from Five Poems of Emily Brontë, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Terry Fisk , "I'll come when thou art saddest", published 2002 [ voice, piano ], from Wuthering Heights, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "I'll come when thou art saddest" [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 87