Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti
Arthur William Edgar OShaughnessy (18441881)Song: Has summer come without the rose (from Lays of France)
H
Or left the bird behind?
Is the blue changed above thee,
O world? or am I blind?
Will you change every flower that grows,
Or only change this spot—
Where she who said, I love thee,
Now says, I love thee not?
The rose true on the tree;
The bird seemed true the summer through;
But all proved false to me:
World, is there one good thing in you—
Life, love, or death—or what?
Since lips that sang I love thee
Have said, I love thee not?
Into one flower’s gold cup;
I think the bird will miss me,
And give the summer up:
O sweet place, desolate in tall
Wild grass, have you forgot
How her lips loved to kiss me,
Now that they kiss me not?
Come back with any face,
Summer! do I care what you do?
You cannot change one place—
The grass, the leaves, the earth, the dew,—
The grave I make the spot,
Here where she used to love me,
Here where she loves me not.