Love Alone Shall Guide Us 4-Part - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1148486

"Love Alone Shall Guide Us" is an a cappella, SATB piece with no divisi. The words were written in 1846 and are particularly interesting and poignant because they were written TO Edgar Allan Poe by his wife Virginia Clemm Poe (1822-1847). He never wrote a poem specifically for her, but she wrote this acrostic poem for him shortly before the end of her short and tragic life. Here are the lyrics: "Ever with thee I wish to roam — Dearest my life is thine. Give me a cottage for my home And a rich old cypress vine, Removed from the world with its sin and care And the tattling of many tongues. Love alone shall guide us when we are there — Love shall heal my weakened lungs; And Oh, the tranquil hours we’ll spend, Never wishing that others may see! Perfect ease we’ll enjoy, without thinking to lend Ourselves to the world and its glee — Ever peaceful and blissful we’ll be." Virginia Poe mentions her illness when it states "Love shall heal my weakened lungs" because it was tuberculosis that took her life less than a year after writing these words. For modern performers, I particularly like the line "Never wishing other may see"; in this social media era, this is really a foreign concept!