by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
Not in a silver casket cool with pearls
Language: English
Not in a silver casket cool with pearls Or rich with red corundum or with blue, Locked, and the key withheld, as other girls Have given their loves, I give my love to you; Not in a lovers'-knot, not in a ring Worked in such fashion, and the legend plain -- Semper fidelis, where a secret spring Kennels a drop of mischief for the brain: Love in the open hand, no thing but that, Ungemmed, unhidden, wishing not to hurt, As one should bring you cowslips in a hat Swung from the hand, or apples in her skirt, I bring you, calling out as children do: "Look what I have! -- And these are all for you."
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Text Authorship:
- by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950) [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 Jake Heggie (b. 1961), "Not in a silver casket cool with pearls", 1999, first performed 1999 [soprano and piano], from Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
- by Leonard J[ordan] Lehrman (b. 1949), "Not in a silver casket", op. 166 (2004), first performed 2004. [voice and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-04-30
Line count: 14
Word count: 115