IF Sorrow have taught me anything, She hath taught me to weep for you; And if Falsehood have left me a tear to shed For Truth, these tears are true. If the one star left by the morning Be dear to the dying night, If the late lone rose of October Be sweetest to scent and sight, If the last of the leaves in December Be dear to the desolate tree, Remember, beloved, O remember How dear is your beauty to me! And more dear than the gold, is the silver Grief hath sown in that hair's young gold: And lovelier than youth is the language Of the thoughts that have made youth old; We must love, and unlove, and forget, dear -- Fashion and shatter the spell Of how many a love in a life, dear -- Ere life learns to love once and love well. Then what matters it, yesterday's sorrow? Since I have outlived it -- see! And what matter the cares of to-morrow, Since you, dear, will share them with me? To love it is hard, and 't is harder Perchance to be loved again: But you'll love me, I know, now I love you. -- What I seek I am patient to gain. To the tears I have shed, and regret not, What matter a few more tears? Or a few days' waiting longer, To one that has waited for years? Hush! lay your head on my breast, there. Not a word! ...while I weep for your sake, Sleep, and forget me, and rest there: My heart will wait warm till you wake. For -- if Sorrow have taught me anything She hath taught me to weep for you; And if Falsehood have left me a tear to shed For Truth, these tears are true! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COMING AMERICAN by SAM WALTER FOSS IN THE SHADOWS: MY EPITAPH by DAVID GRAY (1838-1861) HOW VIOLETS CAME BLUE by ROBERT HERRICK VISIONS OF THE WORLDS VANITIE by EDMUND SPENSER IDYLLS OF THE KING: THE COMING OF ARTHUR by ALFRED TENNYSON SONG OF THE BANNER AT DAY-BREAK by WALT WHITMAN THE RUNNER WITH THE LOTS by LEONIE ADAMS |