1969


Despite and Still (op. 41, no. 5)

Composed by Samuel Barber
Text by Robert Graves

Despite and Still, Op. 41 Song Collection


"Despite and Still" is the fifth and final song of Samuel Barber's cycle Despite and Still, Op. 41.

Text

Despite and Still
by Robert Graves

Have you not read
The words in my head,
And I made part
Of your own heart?
We have been such as draw
The losing straw —
You of your gentleness,
I of my rashness,
Both of despair —
Yet still might share
This happy will:
To love despite and still.
Never let us deny
The thing’s necessity,
But, O, refuse
To choose,
Where chance may seem to give
Love in alternative.

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