Tis Said that Some Have Died for Love > 'TIS SAID THAT SOME HA...

'TIS said that some have died for love:

And here and there a churchyard grave is found

In the cold North's unhallowed ground,

Because the wretched man himself had slain,-

His love was such a grievous pain.

And there is one whom I five years have known;

He dwells alone

Upon Helvellyn's side:

He loved-the pretty Barbara died,
And thus he makes his moan:
Three years had Barbara in her grave been laid,
When thus his moan he made:

‘O move, thou cottage, from behind that oak!
Or let the aged tree uprooted lie,
That in some other way yon smoke
May mount into the sky!
The clouds pass on; they from the heavens depart:
I look-the sky is empty space;
I know not what I trace;
But, when I cease to look, my hand is on my heart.

‘O what a weight is in these shades! Ye leaves,
When will that dying murmur be suppressed?
Your sound my heart of peace bereaves,
It robs my heart of rest.

Thou thrush, that singest loud-and loud and free,
Into yon row of willows flit,
Upon that alder sit;
Or sing another song, or choose another tree.

‘Roll back, sweet rill! back to thy mountain bounds,
And there for ever be thy waters chained!
For thou dost haunt the air with sounds
That cannot be sustained;
If still beneath that pine-tree's ragged bough
Headlong yon waterfall must come,
O let it then be dumb!-
Be anything, sweet rill, but that which thou art now.

‘Thou eglantine, whose arch so proudly towers
(Even like a rainbow spanning half the vale),
Thou one fair shrub-oh, shed thy flowers,
And stir not in the gale!
For thus to see thee nodding in the air,-
To see thy arch thus stretch and bend,
Thus rise and thus descend,-
Disturbs me, till the sight is more than I can bear.'

The man who makes this feverish complaint
Is one of giant stature, who could dance
Equipped from head to foot in iron mail.

Ah gentle love! if ever thought was thine
To store up kindred hours for me, thy face
Turn from me, gentle love! nor let me walk
Within the sound of Emma's voice, or know
Such happiness as I have known to-day.

End of title

Tis Said that Some Have Died for Love

Tis Said that Some Have Died for Love

Alice Meynell

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Tis Said that Some Have Died for Love

Tis Said that Some Have Died for Love

Alice Meynell

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