 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
“HE SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN.”
When roses bloomed in leafy June,
And bluebirds trilled their liveliest tune,
When genial glowed the sun at noon,
And all was pleasant weather,
Through greenwood where the beeches flung
Their shadows ferns and flowers among,
Sweet Bonnibel, the fair and young,
And I, walked out together.
And bluebirds trilled their liveliest tune,
When genial glowed the sun at noon,
And all was pleasant weather,
Through greenwood where the beeches flung
Their shadows ferns and flowers among,
Sweet Bonnibel, the fair and young,
And I, walked out together.
Along the river's heights we strayed,
Till, tired at length, the little maid
Took seat beneath an oak-tree's shade,
The branches bending o'er her;
While I, who felt my heart that day
To fears far more than hopes a prey,
Threw down myself in careless way
Upon the ground before her.
Till, tired at length, the little maid
Took seat beneath an oak-tree's shade,
The branches bending o'er her;
While I, who felt my heart that day
To fears far more than hopes a prey,
Threw down myself in careless way
Upon the ground before her.
I knew not if my love she shared;
I knew not if for me she cared;
I would have told her, had I dared,
How deep was my devotion;
But felt my courage sadly fail;
So strove to woo her by a tale
Wherein the words would scarcely vail
My passionate emotion.
I knew not if for me she cared;
I would have told her, had I dared,
How deep was my devotion;
593
So strove to woo her by a tale
Wherein the words would scarcely vail
My passionate emotion.
There, as she sat inclined to hear,
Her head on hand, in accents clear,
I told the tale of Aldovere
Out of the old romances:
How he, a peasant lowly-born,
Loved the proud Isabel of Lorne,
But showed it not for fear of scorn,
Save in his sighs and glances—
Her head on hand, in accents clear,
I told the tale of Aldovere
Out of the old romances:
How he, a peasant lowly-born,
Loved the proud Isabel of Lorne,
But showed it not for fear of scorn,
Save in his sighs and glances—
How spite of low estate he rose,
Won lands and rank by knightly blows,
Still hiding well the mental throes
That ever racked and thrilled him;
And never to the lady told
(Awed by her graces manifold)
The feeling that his life controlled,
The ardent love that filled him—
Won lands and rank by knightly blows,
Still hiding well the mental throes
That ever racked and thrilled him;
And never to the lady told
(Awed by her graces manifold)
The feeling that his life controlled,
The ardent love that filled him—
And thus he passed his life away,
A noble with a far-wide sway,
And even when flesh had turned to clay,
His silence kept unbroken;
Ere they bore him to his rest,
By king and vassals mourned and blest,
They found her picture on his breast,
Of love a life-long token.
A noble with a far-wide sway,
And even when flesh had turned to clay,
His silence kept unbroken;
Ere they bore him to his rest,
By king and vassals mourned and blest,
They found her picture on his breast,
Of love a life-long token.
Up rose my Bonnibel. Said she:
“The man was weak, it seems to me;
He should have spoken frank and free,
And not his love dissembled.”
“And may I speak?” I eager said;
At which my darling drooped her head,
Her face and neck grew rosy red,
And every fibre trembled.
“The man was weak, it seems to me;
He should have spoken frank and free,
And not his love dissembled.”
594
At which my darling drooped her head,
Her face and neck grew rosy red,
And every fibre trembled.
Ah! forty years have passed away,
And she and I are old and grey;
But memory of that summer day
Still to my heart is clinging;
Again I see the earth and sky,
The quiet river moving by,
And hear, among the branches high,
The bluebirds tuneful singing.
And she and I are old and grey;
But memory of that summer day
Still to my heart is clinging;
Again I see the earth and sky,
The quiet river moving by,
And hear, among the branches high,
The bluebirds tuneful singing.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |