by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
The heart once broken is a heart no more
Language: English
The heart once broken is a heart no more, And is absolved from all a heart must be; All that it signed or chartered heretofore Is cancelled now, the bankrupt heart is free; So much of duty as you may require Of shards and dust, this and no more of pain, This and no more of hope, remorse, desire, The heart once broken need support again. How simple 'tis, and what a little sound It makes in breaking, let the world attest: It struggles, and it fails; the world goes round, And the moon follows it. Heart in my breast, 'Tis half a year now since you broke in two; The world's forgotten well; if the world knew.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), "Sonnet 119", appears in Fatal Interview, first published 1931 [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 Elinor Remick Warren (1900 - 1991), "The heart once broken is a heart no more", published 1974 [ soprano and string quartet or string orchestra ], from Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-10-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 118