Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MY LADY AND I, by BELLE RICHARDSON HARRISON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY LADY AND I, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For a year and a day I must tarry away
Last Line: A year and a day!
Subject(s): Farewell; Love - Loss Of; Time; Unfaithfulness; Parting; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


FOR a year and a day I must tarry away;
'Twas the will of my lady, of her I loved best.
With a sorrowful heart when she bade me depart,
I was fain to submit, it was vain to protest.
A year and a day
I must tarry away,
Alack a-day, sadly
I hear and obey.

Not for honor or fame, nor to gain a great name
Did my lady decree that I leave her alone.
My affection to prove, and the strength of my love,
By this means she declared would be perfectly shown.
For a year and a day
I must tarry away,
Alack a-day, sadly
I hear and obey.

With a tear in her eye and a sobbing good-bye,
She bade me "God speed" as the ship sailed away.
"I'll be faithful and true as the stars unto you."
She whispered to me, but no word could I say.
A year and a day,
Would it e'er roll away?
Alack a-day, sadly
I hear and obey.

For a year and a day I had tarried away
Not a message nor line from my lady to me.
A wand'rer no more on a lone, distant shore,
I brought my fair bride home from over the sea.
Alack a-day, well-a-day,
What shall I say?
To her who was constant
A year and day!

Ah, my fears are at rest though I stood not the test
That my lady imposed for a year and a day:
She is wooed, won and wed, with a stranger she fled,
To escape my reproaches she hastened away.
Alack a-day, well-a-day.
What shall we say?
When neither was constant
A year and a day!





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