The Poems of Charles Wolfe With an Introductory Memoir by C. Litton Falkner |
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ON HEARING “THE LAST ROSE OF
SUMMER.” |
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 | The Poems of Charles Wolfe |  |
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ON HEARING “THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER.”
“The Last Rose of Summer” had a great charm for Wolfe. Archdeacon Russell prints (Remains, pp. 32-34) a striking prose idyll, “The Grave of Dermid,” written by Wolfe “as an introduction to this song.”
I
That strain again! It seems to tellOf something like a joy departed;
I love its mourning accents well,
Like voice of one, ah! broken-hearted.
II
That note that pensive dies away,And can each answering thrill awaken,
It sadly, wildly, seems to say,
Thy meek heart mourns its truth forsaken.
III
Or there was one who never moreShall meet thee with the looks of gladness,
When all of happier life was o'er,
When first began thy night of sadness.
IV
Sweet mourner, cease that melting strain,Too well it suits the grave's cold slumbers;
Too well—the heart that loved in vain
Breathes, lives, and weeps in those wild numbers.
| The Poems of Charles Wolfe | |