TESTO DEL LIED

"Thou art mine"
di Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908)

Thou art mine, thou art mine, thou art mine.
Thou art mine, thou art mine, thou hast given thy word;
Close, close in my arms thou art clinging;
For my ear alone thou art singing
A song, a song, a song which no stranger hath heard.
But afar from me yet, like a bird,
Thy soul in some regions unstirr'd
On its mystical circuit is is winging,
Thou art mine, thou art mine, thou art mine.
Thou art mine, thou art mine, I have made thee mine own;
Henceforth we are mingled together.
But in vain, all in vain I endeavor,
Tho' round thee my garlands are thrown,
And thou yieldest, thou yieldest thy lips and thy zone,
But in vain, all in vain, I endeavor
To master the spell, which alone
Thy hold on my being can sever.
Thou art mine, thou art mine, thou hast come unto me!
But thy soul, thy soul, when I strive to be near it
The innermost fold of thy spirit
Is as far from my grasp, is as free,
As the stars from the mountain tops be,
As the pearl in the depths of the sea
From the portionless king that would wear it.
Thou art mine, thou art mine, thou art mine.