Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
SONG.
[Long have I mourned, and long have known]
Long have I mourned, and long have known
To breathe faint Sorrow's plaintive moan—
But yet, fair Hope! thy smile would come
To make a Sunshine of the gloom!
To breathe faint Sorrow's plaintive moan—
But yet, fair Hope! thy smile would come
To make a Sunshine of the gloom!
26
The present might oppress my heart—
But since, still hovering near thou wert,
I little feared the future day,
But thought to shun Grief's tyrant sway!
But since, still hovering near thou wert,
I little feared the future day,
But thought to shun Grief's tyrant sway!
But 'tis a bitter grief, when thou
Veilest thy Seraph-seeming brow,
When terror plants its icy fangs
In hearts that know a thousand pangs!
Veilest thy Seraph-seeming brow,
When terror plants its icy fangs
In hearts that know a thousand pangs!
When frowns the Future yet more dark,
Before our billow-beaten bark,
Than even the Present in its gloom,
And Hope lies hid behind—the tomb!
Before our billow-beaten bark,
Than even the Present in its gloom,
And Hope lies hid behind—the tomb!
When all that Future is a fear,
When shrinking, trembling, shivering here,
We yet with sick and chill dismay
Look to the Grave's appointed day.
When shrinking, trembling, shivering here,
We yet with sick and chill dismay
Look to the Grave's appointed day.
27
Oh! Hope! fair Hope! thou comest not now
With budding roses round thy brow,
With charmed cup within thine hands,
Sprinkling Life's dull and desert sands!
With budding roses round thy brow,
With charmed cup within thine hands,
Sprinkling Life's dull and desert sands!
Hope! thou dost treacherously desert
This sad and overburthened heart,
And leavest it to cruel pain,
Nor whisperest—“I will come again!”
This sad and overburthened heart,
And leavest it to cruel pain,
Nor whisperest—“I will come again!”
Thou leav'st it to thy sister—Fear,
And lorn it is, and faint and drear,
And Grief's dark shadow girds it round,
Its grave is ev'n already found!
And lorn it is, and faint and drear,
And Grief's dark shadow girds it round,
Its grave is ev'n already found!
Heart! thou hast already found thy grave,
And what can heal—and what can save?
No earthly power—no earthly aid—
Earth hath abandoned and betrayed!
And what can heal—and what can save?
No earthly power—no earthly aid—
Earth hath abandoned and betrayed!
28
Long have I mourned—and long have wept—
And many a heavy vigil kept;
But ne'er till now was I deprived
Of Hope—on whose sweet smiles I lived!
And many a heavy vigil kept;
But ne'er till now was I deprived
Of Hope—on whose sweet smiles I lived!
Oh! worse than weary is the woe,
When nought is left to hope below—
When nought remains but vain regret,
That pineth for the Sun that's set!
When nought is left to hope below—
When nought remains but vain regret,
That pineth for the Sun that's set!
Each gloomy moment seems to bring
An added thorn—another sting—
While none the needful balm supply,
Nor make a new expectancy!
An added thorn—another sting—
While none the needful balm supply,
Nor make a new expectancy!
But this variety of ills
My Soul with vague despondence fills,
And thus distracts it from the one
By which 'twas first—and most undone!
My Soul with vague despondence fills,
And thus distracts it from the one
By which 'twas first—and most undone!
29
If I must mourn then, let me be
Perplexed by Grief's variety—
By many pierced—we strive 'gainst none—
Resist—and wrestle with the One!
Perplexed by Grief's variety—
By many pierced—we strive 'gainst none—
Resist—and wrestle with the One!
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |