Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems By the Lady E. Stuart Wortley. In Three Vols |
 | I, II, III. |
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ALAS! WHY ART THOU FAR? |
 | Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems |  |
ALAS! WHY ART THOU FAR?
Alas! Why art thou far away—
Why art thou far from me?
My Heart sinks crushed e'en Day by Day
By faint despondency!
Why art thou far from me?
My Heart sinks crushed e'en Day by Day
By faint despondency!
360
My very thought—the free—the wild—
For ever on the wing!—
O'erworn with its vain restlessness,
Faints like a wearied thing!
For ever on the wing!—
O'erworn with its vain restlessness,
Faints like a wearied thing!
That thought o'er mount o'er main still flies,
To find thy distant place;
And still its pilgrimage renews—
Repeats the hopeless chase!
To find thy distant place;
And still its pilgrimage renews—
Repeats the hopeless chase!
Alas! why art thou far away,
Why art thou far from me?—
While I but have one wish on Earth,
To live for only thee!
Why art thou far from me?—
While I but have one wish on Earth,
To live for only thee!
My thoughts the truant's part still play—
I walk as in a cloud,
Amidst the Shadows of vain Dreams,
By reason disavowed.
I walk as in a cloud,
Amidst the Shadows of vain Dreams,
By reason disavowed.
361
All that makes this life beautiful,
Alas! is gone with thee;
All that is bitterness and bale
Remains behind with me!
Alas! is gone with thee;
All that is bitterness and bale
Remains behind with me!
I dwell in trembling silence here—
Still trembling Night and Day;
My Being and my Destiny,
These, these seem far away.
Still trembling Night and Day;
My Being and my Destiny,
These, these seem far away.
I dwell in trembling silence here,
Unknowing mine own fate,
And feeling but this heavy truth
That I am desolate!
Unknowing mine own fate,
And feeling but this heavy truth
That I am desolate!
Oh! what on Earth may be compared
To tortures of this woe?—
The fate I mourn unceasingly,
I may not fully know.
To tortures of this woe?—
The fate I mourn unceasingly,
I may not fully know.
362
To watch, wait, dream, doubt, fear, suspect,
Torn by distracting care,
For certainty to sigh in vain,
Ev'n though it brought despair!
Torn by distracting care,
For certainty to sigh in vain,
Ev'n though it brought despair!
Such is my fate, and such 'twill be
While thou art far away—
While grows the burthen of its gloom,
Yet heavier, day by day.
While thou art far away—
While grows the burthen of its gloom,
Yet heavier, day by day.
Haply thou'rt thinking now of me,
Or never think'st at all—
I know not that which even now is,
Nor that which may befall!
Or never think'st at all—
I know not that which even now is,
Nor that which may befall!
| Queen Berengaria's Courtesy, and Other Poems | |