Forsaken I leaned my back unto an aik, But first it bowed, and syne it brak, O waly waly, but love be bonny Now Arthur-seat sall be my bed; The sheets shall ne'er be pressed by me: Since my true Love has forsaken me. 'Tis not the frost, that freezes fell, Nor blawing snaw's inclemencie; 'Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry, But my Love's heart grown cauld to me. When we cam in by Glasgow town We were a comely sight to see; My Love was clad in black velvet. And I mysel in cramasie. But had I wist, before I kissed, That love had been sae ill to win; And sat upon the nurse's knee, And I mysel were dead and gane, And the green grass growing over me! 1043 Unknown BONNIE DOON YE banks and braes o' bonnie Doon, And I sae fu' o' care! Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird That sings upon the bough; Thou minds me o' the happy days When my fause Luve was true. Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird Aft hae I roved by bonnie Doon Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, And my fause luver staw the rose, But left the thorn wi' me. Robert Burns [1759-1796] THE TWO LOVERS THE lover of her body said: "She is more beautiful than night But like the kisses of the dead Is my despair and my delight." The lover of her soul replied: "She is more wonderful than death,— But bitter as the aching tide Is all the speech of love she saith." The Vampire The lover of her body said: "To know one secret of her heart, For all the joy that I have had, Is past the reach of all my art." The lover of her soul replied: "The secrets of her heart are mine,Save how she lives, a riven bride, Between the dust and the divine." The lover of her body sware: "Though she should hate me, wit you well, The lover of her soul cried out: "Rather than leave her to your greed, I would that I were walled about 1045 With death, and death were death indeed!" The lover of her body wept, And got no good of all his gain, The lover of her soul went mad, But when he did himself to death, Despite of all the woe he had, He smiled as one who vanquisheth. Richard Hovey [1864-1900] THE VAMPIRE AS SUGGESTED BY THE PAINTING BY PHILIP BURNE-JONES A FOOL there was and he made his prayer (Even as you and I!) To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair (We called her the woman who did not care), But the fool he called her his lady fair (Even as you and I!) Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste, Belong to the woman who did not know And did not understand. A fool there was and his goods he spent (Even as you and I!) Honor and faith and a sure intent (And it wasn't the least what the lady meant), Oh the toil we lost and the spoil we lost, The fool was stripped to his foolish hide (Even as you and I!) Which she might have seen when she threw him aside,— (But it isn't on record the lady tried) So some of him lived but the most of him died— (Even as you and I!) And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame It's coming to know that she never knew why And never could understand. Rudyard Kipling [1865 AGATHA SHE wanders in the April woods, That glisten with the fallen shower; She leans her face against the buds, She stops, she stoops, she plucks a flower. She feels the ferment of the hour: "A Rose Will Fade" She broodeth when the ringdove broods; As o'er her senses warmly steal Along the summer woodlands wide And still she haunts those woodland ways, With grief too fixed for woe or tear; 1047 Alfred Austin [1835-1913] "A ROSE WILL FADE" You were always a dreamer, Rose-red Rose, As you swung on your perfumed spray, Swinging, and all the world was true, A rose will fade in a day. |