I cried at Pity — not at Pain —

"I cried at Pity — not at Pain —" is the ninth song in Leo Smit's song cycle Childe Emilie. Childe Emilie is the first of Smit's six song cycles setting the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

For more information about Leo Smit's Emily Dickinson song cycles, please visit the pages for The Ecstatic Pilgrimage and Leo Smit.

For inquiries about Leo Smit, please contact Nils Vigeland at [email protected].

Date: 1990Composer: Leo SmitText: Emily DickinsonSong Collection: Childe Emilie

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Text

I cried at Pity — not at Pain — (poem 588)
by Emily Dickinson

I cried at Pity — not at Pain —
I heard a Woman say
“Poor Child” — and something in her voice
Convicted me — of me —

So long I fainted, to myself
It seemed the common way,
And Health, and Laughter, Curious things —
To look at, like a Toy —

To sometimes hear “Rich people” buy
And see the Parcel rolled —
And carried, I supposed — to Heaven,
For children, made of Gold —

But not to touch, or wish for,
Or think of, with a sigh —
And so and so — had been to me,
Had God willed differently.

I wish I knew that Woman’s name —
So when she comes this way,
To hold my life, and hold my ears
For fear I hear her say

She’s “sorry I am dead” — again —
Just when the Grave and I —
Have sobbed ourselves almost to sleep,
Our only Lullaby —

Sheet Music

Childe Emilie

Composer(s): Leo Smit

Song(s): 1. I was the slightest in the House
2. Through lane it lay - through bramble
3. It troubled me as once I was
4. The Child's faith is new
5. Softened by Time's consummate plush
6. Papa above!
7. We talked as Girls do
8. They shut me up in Prose
9. I cried at Pity - not at Pain
10. Let Us play Yesterday
11. A loss of something ever felt I
12. Good Morning - Midnight
13. Up Life's Hill with my little Bundle
14. I'm ceded - I've stopped being Theirs

Voice Type: Mezzo-Soprano, Soprano

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