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[Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde

His Life and Selected Poems

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STAR OF MY LOVE IV
 
 
 
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STAR OF MY LOVE IV

Dum loquor, et flemus; coelo nitidissimus alto
Stella gravis nobis, Lucifer ortus erat.
Ovid Trist.

Star of my Love! most faithless star
That e'er on mortal misery shone!
Years pass—and still thy votaries are
Apart—self-exiled—sad—alone—
And can it be our woes are known
To Heaven, and we still doomed to feel
Pangs which though seraphs breasts were stone
Might stroke upon their hearts like steel,
Star of my Love!
Star of my Love! my years decline,
My spirits sink, my hopes decay,
In moody wretchedness I pine
And perish slowly day by day,

197

Ages of pain have rolled away
Since first with mingled love and awe
I gazed upon thy silver ray
Murmuring at Fate's resistless law
Star of my Love!
Star of my Love! I ask no more
Omen or sign or aid from thee:
Cast up a wreck, beside the shore
Of dark despair's cold calm dead sea,
All that has been—all that shall be—
Are now unchangeably the same:
Blasted by one accurst decree
Sic Hope,—Love,—Joy,—Ambition,—Fame—
Star of my Love!
Star of my Love! I've proved thy power,
It has no strength to help or save!
Star of my Love! I wait the hour
When God shall claim the breath he gave:
I cannot be denied a grave—
And this is all I hope or ask
He whose kind hand redeems the slave
Will end at length my weary task
Star of my Love!