With the Same Heart, I Said, I'll Answer Thee

"With the Same Heart, I Said, I'll Answer Thee" is the third song in Libby Larsen's cycle Sonnets From the Portuguese, which sets the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Date: 1991Composer: Libby LarsenText: Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSong Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

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XXXIV. “With the same heart, I said, I’ll answer thee…”
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

With the same heart, I said, I’ll answer thee
As those, when thou shalt call me by my name—
Lo, the vain promise! is the same, the same,
Perplexed and ruffled by life’s strategy?
When called before, I told how hastily
I dropped my flowers or brake off from a game,
To run and answer with the smile that came
At play last moment, and went on with me
Through my obedience. When I answer now,
I drop a grave thought, break from solitude;
Yet still my heart goes to thee—ponder how—
Not as to a single good, but all my good!
Lay thy hand on it, best one, and allow
That no child’s foot could run fast as this blood.

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