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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

I Should not dare to leave my friend
Language: English 
Our translations:  GER
I Should not dare to leave my friend,
Because, because if he should die
While I was gone, and I too late
Should reach the heart that wanted me,
 
If I should disappoint the eyes
That hunted, hunted so to see
And could not bear to shut until
They noticed me, they noticed me.
 
If I should stab the patient faith
So sure I'd come, so sure I'd come,
It listening, listening went to sleep
Telling my tardy name.
 
My heart would wish it broke before,
Since breaking then, since breaking then
Were useless as next morning's sun
Where midnight's frosts had lain!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text 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 should not dare to leave my friend" [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. 8. [
     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: 16
Word count: 103

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