Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COMPLAINT OF THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER BEING UPON THE SEA, by HENRY HOWARD


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COMPLAINT OF THE ABSENCE OF HER LOVER BEING UPON THE SEA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O happy dames! That may embrace
Last Line: -- now he comes! Will he come? Alas! No, no.
Alternate Author Name(s): Surrey, Earl Of
Variant Title(s): The Seafarer
Subject(s): Absence; Love; Separation; Isolation


O HAPPY dames! that may embrace
The fruit of your delight,
Help to bewail the woful case
And eke the heavy plight
Of me, that wonted to rejoice
The fortune of my pleasant choice:
Good ladies, help to fill my mourning voice.

In ship, freight with rememberance
Of thoughts and pleasures past,
He sails that hath in governance
My life while it will last:
With scalding sighs, for lack of gale,
Furthering his hope, that is his sail,
Toward me, the swete port of his avail.

Alas! how oft in dreams I see
Those eyes that were my food;
Which sometime so delighted me,
That yet they do me good:
Wherewith I wake with his return
Whose absent flame did make me burn:
But when I find the lack, Lord! how I mourn!

When other lovers in arms across
Rejoice their chief delight,
Drowned in tears, to mourn my loss
I stand the bitter night
In my window where I may see
Before the winds how the clouds flee:
Lo! what a mariner love hath made me!

And in green waves when the salt flood
Doth rise by rage of wind,
A thousand fancies in that mood
Assail my restless mind.
Alas! now drencheth my sweet foe,
That with the spoil of my heart did go,
And left me; but alas! why did he so?

And when the seas wax calm again
To chase fro me annoy,
My doubtful hope doth cause me plain;
So dread cuts off my joy.
Thus is my wealth mingled with woe
And of each thought a doubt doth grow;
-- Now he comes! Will he come? Alas! no, no.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net