The Old Stoic by Emily Bronte. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

The Old Stoic

Emily Brontë (1818–48)


RICHES I hold in light esteem,
And Love I laugh to scorn;
And lust of fame was but a dream
That vanish’d with the morn;

And if I pray, the only prayer	5
That moves my lips for me
Is, “Leave the heart that now I bear,
And give me liberty!”

Yes, as my swift days near their goal,
’T is all that I implore:	10
In life and death a chainless soul,
With courage to endure.