HOW many lilies be ablow? Count them and see -- Seven by the wail, and seven by the door; 'Tis time he came to me. Oh, love's bitter! Was ever a whiter web than this That I spin to-day? A wedding gown or a winding sheet, Love, which shall it be? Oh, love's bitter! The old dames stand in the street, 'Neath the willow trees; And they mark how white my lilies blow, And they hear my bees. Oh, love's bitter! And one dame says, "Five lads of mine Be in the sea;" Another says, "That lad of mine, He came not back to me." Oh, love's bitter! The willow trees grow down to the wharves, Green as of old; (Green as the day he went from me;) The sea is of gold. Oh, 1ove's bitter! Two ships I see: one in the west -- Love is it thine? One in the east, in a windy mist -- Oh, love, which is thine? Oh, love's bitter! Then speak the dames : "Her ship went down That night at sea." My seven white lilies -- do ye hear? For this they speak of me! Oh, love's bitter! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JAFFAR by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT FOR AN ALLEGORICAL DANCE OF WOMEN (BY ANDREA MANTEGNA) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 12. THE CREATOR by EDWIN ARNOLD THE HUSBAND'S PETITION by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |