'Tis not the air I wished to play,

The strain I wished to sing;

My wilful spirit slipped away

And struck another string.

I neither wanted smile nor tear,

Bright joy nor bitter woe,

But just a song that sweet and clear,

Though haply sad, might flow.

-- Charlotte Bronte

(in The Things That Matter:

An Anthology of Women's Spiritual Poetry,

edited by Julia Neuberger)