1965

I Know My Mind

Composed by Margaret Bonds

Four Songs Song Collection

"I Know My Mind" is an art song composed by Margaret Bonds with text derived from the poem of the same name by Edna St Vincent Millay. The song is part of Bonds' song cycle, Four Songs.

Audio

“I Know My Mind” (from “Four Songs”)
Leberta Lorál, soprano; Jeffrey Sykes, piano3:04

Margaret Bonds

Composer

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

This recording was part of a 5:30pm concert ("A Salute to Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)") on Saturday, October 15, 2022 during the 25th Anniversary African American Art Song Alliance Conference. The concert venue was Winifred Smith Hall at the University of California, Irvine.

Text

I know my mind and I have made my choice;
Not from your temper does my doom depend;
Love me or love me not, you have no voice
In this, which is my portion to the end.
Your presence and your favours, the full part
That you could give, you now can take away:
What lies between your beauty and my heart
Not even you can trouble or betray.
Mistake me not — unto my inmost core
I do desire your kiss upon my mouth;
They have not craved a cup of water more
That bleach upon the deserts of the south;
Here might you bless me; what you cannot do
Is bow me down, who have been loved by you.

Records

2024

Show Me the Way

Jasmine Barnes, Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen, Florence Price

Buy via Cedille Records