The sonnet Within My Heart which could be regarded as both a love poem and a poetic testament. Poet and composer are united in their belief that only art and poetry – rather than momentary experience, as powerful as it might be – are of truly enduring value.
The opening motto is followed by the piano’s opening statement, which already introduces the song’s dramatic narrative. Especially prominent is the beating of the bird’s wings as she remains trapped within the speaker’s poems, not unlike the poet herself.
The gulf between the poet and her audience is expressed in painful, bitter harmonies. When Death is mentioned, however, the music’s emotional and dramatic character turns upside-down: the final verse reveals what Lerner calls “the release from bonds of suffering – and the merger with the eternal”.
The harmonies brighten, the vocal line soars upwards, and piano’s postlude provides a stable anchor for the triumphant conclusion.