by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)
Substitution
Language: English
When some belovèd voice that was to you Both sound and sweetness, faileth suddenly, And silence, against which you dare not cry, Aches round you like a strong disease and new - What hope ? what help ? what music will undo That silence to your sense ? Not friendship's sigh, Not reason's subtle count; not melody Of viols, nor of pipes that Faunus blew; Not songs of poets, nor of nightingales Whose hearts leap upward through the cypress-trees To the clear moon; nor yet the spheric laws Self-chanted, nor the angels' sweet 'All hails,' Met in the smile of God: nay, none of these. Speak Thou, availing Christ! - and fill this pause.
First published in Graham's Magazine, December 1842, revised 1844.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861), "Substitution" [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 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "Substitution", op. 24 no. 2 (1898), published 1898 [ low voice and piano ], from In Memoriam: 3 Rhapsodies, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 109