683. The Old Stoic. Emily Bronte. 1909-14. English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman. The Harvard Classics

English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

683. The Old Stoic

Emily Bronte (1818–1848)


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,
’Tis all that I implore;	10
In life and death a chainless soul
With courage to endure.