Stanzas|An Audio Rendering of the Classic Poem by Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë, as drawn by her sister, Charlotte

For my birthday this year, I wanted to do some things that stretched me. The first challenge presented itself at the county spelling bee for adults at my local library. Tragically (yes!), I only progressed to the second round. Apparently, quandary has two a's, not one.

Somehow the idea sprung into my head to contribute an audio-recording to librivox.org, a free online depository of audiobooks in the public domain. I had been reading through the Brontë sisters' classic novels, including Jane Eyre by the eldest sister, Charlotte, Wuthering Heights by Emily, the middle sister, and the lesser known, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by the youngest sister, Anne. I knew the sisters also composed poetry, so what better way to break into the audiobook scene by selecting a short poem to read? It just so happens that Anne Brontë's birthday is only a day away from mine, and her complete set of poems was in development. I chose a good-sized poem and learned the in's and out's of Audacity's software before submitting my best rendering, which you can find in the Librivox recording of Anne Brontë's Complete Poems collection here.

Stanzas 
by Anne Brontë

Oh, weep not, love! each tear that springs
In those dear eyes of thine,
To me a keener suffering brings
Than if they flowed from mine.

And do not droop! however drear
The fate awaiting thee;
For MY sake combat pain and care,
And cherish life for me!

I do not fear thy love will fail;
Thy faith is true, I know;
But, oh, my love! thy strength is frail
For such a life of woe.

Were 't not for this, I well could trace
(Though banished long from thee)
Life's rugged path, and boldly face
The storms that threaten me.

Fear not for me—I've steeled my mind
Sorrow and strife to greet;
Joy with my love I leave behind,
Care with my friends I meet.

A mother's sad reproachful eye,
A father's scowling brow—
But he may frown and she may sigh:
I will not break my vow!

I love my mother, I revere
My sire, but fear not me—
Believe that Death alone can tear
This faithful heart from thee.

Zerona, October 1, 1845

 

Sonnet I: Spring Lilies in Summer
by Chanda Singelton Griesë

Bursting light of summer, belated bloom,
In Sheer dawning brightness—
     wild in hello,
Sprung from flat plains of weeds that overgrow—
Chosen among thorns and thistles, you loom
Unfurled overnight,
      in wind and thunder boom
Forgotten seed, whose roots stretched far below
Lily of the rain, which stuns like a doe
Only those whose empty hearts
       which make room 
Delight at such a sight as a dead thing
Come to life to mock at ruin and blight
Pale pink purity, turning out to sing
Songs to broken paupers
       or kings resigned, 
Bowed and trusting, without a care, welcoming
Joy in faith and destiny intertwined.