THE FAITHLESS SHEPHERDESS by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

1

There once was a time when I loved,
'Tis gone to return never more;
My shepherdess faithless has proved,
The maiden I once did adore.

2

And now we are parted for ever,
And gone are my hopes and my fears,
To forget Phillis false I'll endeavour,
And arrest all these fast-flowing tears.

3

Yet wherever I turn I must think
Of her who is faithless to me;
I stand by the rivulet's brink,
And the play of its waters I see.

4

'Twas there I first told her my love,
And she blushingly bade me hope still,
And the moon looking down from above
Seemed to smile on the murmuring rill;

5

On the rill that was murm'ring of love
To its beautiful mistress in heaven,
The moon seeming to speak far above
Of the rays that in token she'd given;

6

In token of love never-ending,
And pure as when first 'twas avowed,
As long as that stream should be sending
Soft sighs to its Queen in the cloud.

7

And false Phillis swore that she'd ever
Keep faithful her pure heart to me,
That she'd think of another love never,
So long as the rill true should be.

8

The rill to its love true remains,
The moon still smiles on it from heaven,
But from you I've experienced sharp pains,
That the rill to the moon ne'er has given.

9

And now we are parted for ever,
And gone are my hopes and my fears;
To forget Phillis false I'll endeavour,
And arrest all these fast-flowing tears.

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...