Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Walter Savage Landor 1775–1864

The Maid’s Lament

Landor-W

I LOV’D him not; and yet now he is gone

I feel I am alone.

I check’d him while he spoke; yet could he speak,

Alas! I would not check.

For reasons not to love him once I sought,

And wearied all my thought

To vex myself and him: I now would give

My love, could he but live

Who lately liv’d for me, and when he found

’T was vain, in holy ground

He hid his face amid the shades of death.

I waste for him my breath

Who wasted his for me; but mine returns,

And this lone bosom burns

With stifling heat, heaving it up in sleep

And waking me to weep

Tears that had melted his soft heart: for years

Wept he as bitter tears.

Merciful God! such was his latest prayer,

These may she never share!

Quieter is his breath, his breast more cold,

Than daisies in the mould,

Where children spell, athwart the church-yard gate,

His name and life’s brief date.

Pray for him, gentle souls, whoe’er you be,

And oh! pray too for me!