 | The Poems of Charles Wolfe |  |
SONG.
[If I had thought thou could'st have died]
Archdeacon Russell gives the following account of the genesis of this poem:—
“Another of his—Wolfe's—favourite melodies was the popular Irish air ‘Gramachree.’ He never heard it without being sensibly affected by its deep and tender expression; but he thought that no words had ever been written for it which came up to his idea of the peculiar pathos which pervades the whole strain. He said they all appeared to him to want individuality of feeling. At the desire of a friend he gave his own conception of it in these verses, which it seems hard to read, perhaps impossible to hear sung, without tears. He was asked whether he had any real incident in view, or had witnessed any immediate occurrence which might have prompted these lines. His reply was, he had not, but that he had sung the air over and over till he burst into a flood of tears, in which mood he composed the words.” —Wolfe's Remains, 9th edition, pp. 34 and 36.
I
If I had thought thou could'st have died,I might not weep for thee;
But I forgot, when by thy side,
That thou could'st mortal be:
It never through my mind had past,
The time would e'er be o'er,
And I on thee should look my last,
And thou should'st smile no more!
II
And still upon that face I look,And think 'twill smile again;
And still the thought I will not brook,
That I must look in vain!
But when I speak—thou dost not say,
What thou ne'er left'st unsaid;
And now I feel, as well I may,
Sweet Mary! thou art dead!
III
If thou wouldst stay, e'en as thou art,All cold, and all serene—
I still might press thy silent heart,
And where thy smiles have been!
While e'en thy chill, bleak corse I have,
Thou seemest still mine own;
But there I lay thee in the grave—
And I am now alone!
IV
I do not think, where'er thou art,Thou hast forgotten me;
And I, perhaps, may soothe this heart,
In thinking too of thee:
Yet there was round thee such a dawn
Of light ne'er seen before,
As fancy never could have drawn,
And never can restore!
| The Poems of Charles Wolfe | |