Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONG: SCENE IN A MADHOUSE, by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE Poet's Biography First Line: She sings her wild dirges, and smiles 'mid the strain Last Line: Your meekness who taught you? -- 'the willow.' Subject(s): Insanity; Madness; Mental Illness | ||||||||
SHE sings her wild dirges, and smiles 'mid the strain; Then turns to remember her sorrow. Men gaze on that smile till their tears fall like rain, And she from their weeping doth borrow. She forgets her own story: and none, she complains, Of the cause for her grief will remind her: She fancies but one of her kindred remains -- She is certain he never can find her. Whence caught you, sweet mourner, the swell of that song? 'From the arch of you wind-laden billow.' Whence learned you, sweet lady, your sadness? -- 'From Wrong.' Your meekness who taught you? -- 'The Willow.' She boasts that her tresses have never grown grey; yet murmurs -- 'How long I am dying! My sorrows but make me more lovely, men say; But I soon in my grave shall be lying! My grave will embrace me all round and all round, More warmly than thou, my false lover: -- No rival will steal to my couch without sound; No sister will come to discover!' Whence caught you, sweet mourner, the swell of that song? 'From the arch of the wind-laden billow.' Whence learned you, sweet lady, your sadness? -- 'From Wrong.' Your meekness who taught you? -- 'The Willow.' She courts the cold wind when the tempests blow hard, And at first she exults in their raving. She clasps with her fingers the lattice close-barred -- Like the billows her bosom is waving: -- But ere long with strange pity her spirit is crossed, And she sighs for poor mariners drowning: And -- 'thus in my passion of old I was tossed' -- And -- 'thus stood my grey father frowning!' Whence caught you, sweet mourner, the swell of that song? 'From the arch of the wind-laden billow.' Whence learned you, sweet lady, your sadness? -- 'From Wrong.' Your meekness who taught you? -- 'The Willow.' On the wall the rough water chafes ever its breast; 'Mid the willows my bark was awaiting; Passing by, on her cold hand a sad kiss I prest, And slowly moved on to the grating. 'For my lips, not my fingers, your bounty I crave!' She cried with a laugh and light shiver: 'You drift o'er the ocean, and I to the grave; Henceforward we meet not for ever!' Where found you, sweet mourner, the swell of that song? 'In the arch of you wind-laden billow.' Whence caught you, sweet lady, your sadness? -- 'From Wrong.' Your meekness who taught you? -- 'The Willow.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PARENTS OF PSYCHOTIC CHILDREN by MARVIN BELL VISITS TO ST. ELIZABETHS by ELIZABETH BISHOP FOR THE MAD by LUCILLE CLIFTON STONEHENGE by ALBERT GOLDBARTH DAY ROOM: ST. ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL by MICHAEL S. HARPER SEELE IN RAUM by RANDALL JARRELL A BALLAD OF ATHLONE; OR, HOW THEY BROKE DOWN THE BRIDGE by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE A BALLAD OF SARSFIELD; OR, THE BURSTING OF THE GUNS by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE |
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