Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE STRAYED LOVER, by MARGARET LOUISA WOODS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE STRAYED LOVER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I've lost the way to sylvia's heart
Last Line: Then, having found it, dwell there.
Alternate Author Name(s): Woods, Mrs. Margaret Louisa Bradley
Subject(s): Hearts; Kisses; Love - Loss Of


I'VE lost the way to Sylvia's heart.
What impish sprite possessed me
To wander so from Sylvia's heart?
I'll ask at every sage's door,
And study, if mid ancient lore
Old lovers drew on wrinkled charts,
The scarlet road to women's hearts.
I'll weary midnight lamps and call
The wooing sun vain prodigal,
Until I come to Sylvia's heart,
And peace again has blest me.

Lost lover, no!
Forbear!
They cannot point the road,
By sea or land it does not fare,
Or coiled dragon's dim abode.
There is no chart
Nor any road to Sylvia's heart.

I've lost the way to Sylvia's heart,
Oh, teach me how to find it—
The way I seek to Sylvia's heart!
Though long it be, though mountain-rude,
By gulfs of roaring solitude
It wind, if but at length it come
To that my dear accustomed home,
If but it end in Sylvia's heart,
Be sure I shall not mind it.

Ah, no, no, no!
In vain,
Pilgrim, in vain you'll go,
And, seeking so,
Must needs return again.
Such roads may reach the stars, we know,
Or fade in snow;
They never come to Sylvia's heart.

Lost wretch! Exiled from Sylvia's heart,
Whose happy fortune fell there!
No road, no chart to Sylvia's heart!
Some desperate way in pity tell,
Some triple charm, some midnight spell—
Fond lover, know the charm is this:
A look, a sigh, a smile, a kiss,
A pleading look, a gentle sigh,
And back to Sylvia's heart you fly—
Then, having found it, dwell there.





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