The Works of Tennyson The Eversley Edition: Annotated by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Edited by Hallam, Lord Tennyson |
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 | The Works of Tennyson |  |
Additional lines and fragments of verse extracted from the notes.
376
THE ROSEBUD
The night with sudden odour reel'd,The southern stars a music peal'd,
Warm beams across the meadow stole;
For love flew over grove and field,
Said, “Open, Rosebud, open, yield
Thy fragrant soul.”
378
TO THE VICAR OF SHIPLAKE
Vicar of that pleasant spot,
Where it was my chance to marry,
Happy, happy be your lot
In the Vicarage by the quarry:
You were he that knit the knot.
Where it was my chance to marry,
Happy, happy be your lot
In the Vicarage by the quarry:
You were he that knit the knot.
379
Sweetly, smoothly flow your life.
Never parish feud perplex you,
Tithe unpaid, or party strife.
All things please you, nothing vex you;
You have given me such a wife.
Never parish feud perplex you,
Tithe unpaid, or party strife.
All things please you, nothing vex you;
You have given me such a wife.
Have I seen in one so near
Aught but sweetness aye prevailing?
Or, thro' more than half a year,
Half the fraction of a failing?
Therefore bless you, Drummond dear.
Aught but sweetness aye prevailing?
Or, thro' more than half a year,
Half the fraction of a failing?
Therefore bless you, Drummond dear.
Good she is, and pure and just.
Being conquer'd by her sweetness
I shall come thro' her, I trust,
Into fuller-orb'd completeness;
Tho' but made of erring dust.
Being conquer'd by her sweetness
I shall come thro' her, I trust,
Into fuller-orb'd completeness;
Tho' but made of erring dust.
You, meanwhile, shall day by day
Watch your standard roses blowing,
And your three young things at play
And your triple terrace growing
Green and greener every May.
Watch your standard roses blowing,
And your three young things at play
And your triple terrace growing
Green and greener every May.
Smoothly flow your life with Kate's,
Glancing off from all things evil,
Smooth as Thames below your gates,
Thames along the silent level
Streaming thro' his osier'd aits.
Glancing off from all things evil,
Smooth as Thames below your gates,
Thames along the silent level
Streaming thro' his osier'd aits.
384
THE BRIDAL
The lamps were bright and gay
On the merry bridal-day,
When the merry bridegroom
Bore the bride away!
A merry, merry bridal,
A merry bridal-day!
And the chapel's vaulted gloom
Was misted with perfume.
“Now, tell me, mother, pray,
Why the bride is white as clay,
Although the merry bridegroom
Bears the bride away,
On a merry, merry bridal,
A merry bridal-day?
And why her black eyes burn
With a light so wild and stern?”
“They revel as they may,”
That skinny witch did say,
“For—now the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away—
Her thoughts have found their wings
In the dreaming of past things:
And though girt in glad array,
Yet her own deep soul says nay:
For tho' the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away,
A dark form glances quick
Thro' her worn brain, hot and sick.”
And so she said her say—
This was her roundelay—
That tho' the merry bridegroom
Might lead the bride away,
Dim grief did wait upon her,
In glory and in honour.
On the merry bridal-day,
When the merry bridegroom
Bore the bride away!
A merry, merry bridal,
A merry bridal-day!
And the chapel's vaulted gloom
Was misted with perfume.
“Now, tell me, mother, pray,
Why the bride is white as clay,
Although the merry bridegroom
Bears the bride away,
385
A merry bridal-day?
And why her black eyes burn
With a light so wild and stern?”
“They revel as they may,”
That skinny witch did say,
“For—now the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away—
Her thoughts have found their wings
In the dreaming of past things:
And though girt in glad array,
Yet her own deep soul says nay:
For tho' the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away,
A dark form glances quick
Thro' her worn brain, hot and sick.”
And so she said her say—
This was her roundelay—
That tho' the merry bridegroom
Might lead the bride away,
Dim grief did wait upon her,
In glory and in honour.
In the hall, at close of day,
Did the people dance and play,
For now the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away.
He from the dance hath gone
But the revel still goes on.
Then a scream of wild dismay
Thro' the deep hall forced its way,
Altho' the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away;
And, staring as in a trance,
They were shaken from the dance.—
Then they found him where he lay
Whom the wedded wife did slay,
Tho' he a merry bridegroom
Had borne the bride away,
And they saw her standing by,
With a laughing crazed eye,
On the bitter, bitter bridal,
The bitter bridal-day.
Did the people dance and play,
For now the merry bridegroom
Hath borne the bride away.
He from the dance hath gone
But the revel still goes on.
Then a scream of wild dismay
Thro' the deep hall forced its way,
386
Hath borne the bride away;
And, staring as in a trance,
They were shaken from the dance.—
Then they found him where he lay
Whom the wedded wife did slay,
Tho' he a merry bridegroom
Had borne the bride away,
And they saw her standing by,
With a laughing crazed eye,
On the bitter, bitter bridal,
The bitter bridal-day.
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