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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DOST THOU ASK?, by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS Poet's Biography First Line: Askest thou why in mine eyes / the tears so thickly spring? Last Line: But thou -- thou mayest not! Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness | |||
ASKEST thou why in mine eyes The tears so thickly spring? Wherefore I do wail and sigh; What grief my heart doth wring? Ah! if within the presence Of my woe thou couldst stand, Thou wouldst pity me; but, ah! Thou dost not understand! Whate'er these lips, so pallid, May breathe in sorrow deep, They ne'er can voice the anguish Which doth my whole heart steep. If it could only tell thee How, 'neath Fate's iron hand, 'T is breaking, thou wouldst pity: Thou canst not understand! No recent sorrow is it, No common daily smart, When thus by vulture talons Torn fiercely is my heart. Whoe'er is, while still living, Quartered by headsman's hand, These hellish tortures knoweth, Thou canst not understand! Easy it is to censure, When we the guilt know not, -- Or fan to fiercer blazing A fire already hot. Who ne'er at night hath wandered In darkness through the land, Can never comprehend me: Thou dost not understand! Then leave me to my weeping O'er all that stirs me so; Full soon the night eternal Brings rest to us below. Some day, to all His children, God will their fate allot: He only can condemn them; But thou -- thou mayest not! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS |
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