Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Walter Savage Landor. 17751864557. The Maid’s Lament
I LOVED 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, | 5 |
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 | 10 |
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, | 15 |
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!’ | 20 |
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, | 25 |
And, O, pray too for me! |