University of Virginia Library

Methought a mournful bell,
Fast by a shadowy sea,
Tolled through its hush and swell:
Qui bien aime tard oublie,
Qui bien aime tard oublie.
So lone the eve, nought stirred
But seemed to speak a word,
And ever thus said the knell:
Qui bien aime tard oublie.
O'er dusk waves, salt as tears
Their spray, tossed wild as fears,
Dimly it died. I trow
Some lover long ago
Had spoken it for a spell
That should his heart set free
From doubt's fell gramarie
Time-wrought: who loveth well
Doth tardily forget—
Qui bien aime tard oublie,
A vow, a promise, yet
Vainly it died and died,
Nor answering echoes met,
Where all grief's bitter tide
Beyond was waxen wide,
Till silence, grown a threat,
Would memory's doom foretell,
Lingering friend-lorn and left
At last to falter and flee
The conqueror none may quell—
By tyrannous change twice-reft,
Qui bien aime tard oublie.

Then as stark midnight fell,
Turned from that desolate shore
To listen there no more
The bell make weary moan,
Methought anon were strown,
Dropped clear as dews of light,
Notes thrilling, quivering far,
That down the vaulted height
Their crystal cadence flung,
Faint from some outpost star,
On fiery steeps aflame.
In jubilant peals outrung
The very voices came
Waft of a happy clime,
Where bells not toll but chime
Blithe tidings. Qui bien aime,
Tard, tard oublie, they run,
Qui bien aime tard oublie
Qui bien aime.
Ah to have won
Beside that shadowy sea,
A haven-nook of sleep,
And dream, and still dream deep
That such a joy shall be!