Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly; Edited by his Widow. With A Memoir of the Author. In Two Volumes |
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Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | ||
TELL ME THAT HE LIVES.
I
Tell me that he lives and I'll smile again,Though his limbs be gall'd by a tyrant's chain,
Time may burst the link, captives may go free,
Tell me that he lives and give life to me.
Wounded he may pine in a foreign land,
And his sword may fall from his nerveless hand;
He may live to wear Fame's unfading wreath,
Oh! my constant heart could not bear his death.
II
Tell me that he lives; I can bear to knowHe is false to me—say if it be so?
Not one selfish thought lingers in my breast;
Tell me that he lives, I'll endure the rest.
Pallid is my cheek and my eye is dim,
He would scarcely know her who weeps for him;
He may live to wear Fame's unfading wreath,
Oh! my constant heart could not bear his death.
Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems | ||