Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: SONG, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: SONG, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If sorrow have taught me anything
Last Line: For truth, these tears are true!
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): France; Grief; Travel; Sorrow; Sadness; Journeys; Trips


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!





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