by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
I had a guinea golden
Language: English
Available translation(s): GER
I had a guinea golden, I lost it in the sand, And though the sum was simple And pounds were in the land, Still, had it such a value Unto my frugal eye, That when I could not find it I sat me down to sigh. I had a crimson robin Who sang full many a day, But when the woods were painted, He too did fly away. Time brought me other robins, Their ballads were the same, Still, for my missing troubadour I kept the "house at hame". I had a star in heaven, One "Pleaid" was its name, And when I was not heeding It wandered from the same. And though the skies are crowded, And all the night ashine, I do not care about it Since none of them are mine. My story has a moral; I have a missing friend, "Pleiad" its name, and robin, And guinea in the sand. And when this mournful ditty, Accompanied with tear, Shall meet the eye of traitor In country far from here, Grant that repentance solemn May seize upon his mind, And he no consolation Beneath the sun may find.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title [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 Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "I had a guinea golden" [soprano and piano], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 1 : The Pensive Spring, no. 3. [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 36
Word count: 191