Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BROKEN RING, by JOSEPH VON EICHENDORFF


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BROKEN RING, by                    
First Line: Down in a cool, green valley
Last Line: Then it would stand quite still.
Subject(s): Jewelry & Jewelers; Unfaithfulness; Rings; Bracelets; Necklaces; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


Down in a cool, green valley
A millwheel goes all day,
And there my love would dally--
Now she is gone away.

She gave a ring for token
And pledged her faith as true:
Her faith--alas!--is broken,
The ring has burst in two.

I'd be a fiddler strolling,
And wander far from home!
My songs forever trolling,
From door to door I'd roam.

I'd be a rider, flying
Into the bloody fight,
By quiet campfires lying
Upon the field at night.

I hear the millwheel going:
I know not what I will--
I wish I might be dying,
Then it would stand quite still.





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