Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MEETING OF SIGURD AND GERDA, by ELIZABETH DOTEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MEETING OF SIGURD AND GERDA, by                    
First Line: O, early love! O, early love!
Last Line: And freely to forgive.
Alternate Author Name(s): Doten, Lizzie
Subject(s): Hearts; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Memory; Male-female Relations


"O, EARLY love! O, early love!
Why does this memory haunt me yet?
Peace! I invoke thee from above,—
I cannot, though I would, forget.
How have I strove, with prayers and tears,
To quench this wasting passion-flame!
But after long, long, weary years,
It burns within my heart the same."

She wept—poor, sorrowing Gerda wept,
In the dark pine-wood wandering lone,
While cold the night-winds past her swept,
And bright the stars above her shone.
Poor, suffering dove! her song was hushed,
The blithesome song of other days,
Yet, O! when such true hearts are crushed,
They breathe their holiest, sweetest lays.

A step was heard. Her heart beat high;
Through the dim shadows of the wood
She glanced with quick and anxious eye—
Lo! Sigurd by her stood;—
And as the moon's pale, quivering rays
Stole through that lonely place,
He stood, with calm, impassioned gaze
Fixed on her tearful face.

"Gerda," he said, "I come to speak
A long, a last farewell;
Some distant land and home I seek,
Far, far from thee to dwell.
O, since I lost thee, gentle one,
My truest and my best,
I have rushed madly, blindly on,
Nor dared to think of rest.

"The night that spreads her starry wing
Beyond the Northern Sea,
Does not a deeper darkness bring
Than that which rests on me.
Yet, no! I will not ask thy tears
For my deep tale of woe;
Forgetfulness will come with years;
Gerda—my love—I go!"

"Stay! Sigurd, stay! O, why depart?
See, at thy feet I bow;
O, cherished idol of my heart,
Reject—reject me now!"
But not upon the cold, damp ground,
Her bended knee she pressed;
Upheld, and firmly clasped around,
She wept upon his breast.

"Reject thee? No! When earth rejects
The sunshine's summer glow,
When Heaven one suppliant's prayer neglects,
Then will I bid thee go.
And, by the watching stars above,
And by all things divine,
I swear to cherish and to love
This heart that beats to mine!"

O, holy sense of wrongs forgot,
And injuries forgiven!
The human heart that feels thee not,
Knows not the peace of Heaven.
Ye blesséd spirits from above,
Who guide us while we live,
O, teach us also how to love,
And freely to forgive.





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