Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES BY CLAUDIA, by EMILY JANE BRONTE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES BY CLAUDIA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I did not sleep; 'twas noon of day
Last Line: For which we fought and bled and died
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis
Subject(s): Immortality


I did not sleep 'twas noon of day
I saw the burning sunshine fall
The long grass bending where I lay
The blue sky brooding over all

I heard the mellow hum of bees
And singing birds and sighing trees
And far away in woody dell
The Music of the Sabbath bell

I did not dream remembrance still
Clasped round my heart its fetters chill
But I am sure the soul is free
To leave its clay a little while
Or how in exile misery
Could I have seen my country smile

In English fields my limbs were laid
With English turf beneath my head
My spirit wandered o'er that shor[e]
Where nought but it may wander more

Yet if the soul can thus return
I need not and I will not mourn
And vainly did you drive me far
With leagues of ocean stretched between
My mortal flesh you might debar
But not the eternal fire within

My Monarch died to rule forever
A heart that can forget him never
And dear to me aye doubly dear
Thought shut within the silent tomb
His name shall be for whom I bear
This long sustained and hopeless doom

And brighter in the hour of woe
Than in the blaze of victory's pride
That glory shedding star shall glow
For which we fought and bled and died





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