Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)

The Maid’s Lament (from the Examination of Shakespeare)

I LOVED him not; and yet now he is gone

I feel I am alone.

I checked 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 lived for me, and when he found

’Twas 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 lorn 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 churchyard gate,

His name, and life’s brief date.

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

And, O, pray too for me.