European Elegies/Autumn (1)/The dead mistress
20.THE DEAD MISTRESS
Alas, my love is dead,
And dead my dearest hope!
My happiness is fled!
Forlorn and faint I grope!
And dead my dearest hope!
My happiness is fled!
Forlorn and faint I grope!
Farewell to youthful dreams—
For all their hopes and joys
One bitter hour blasphemes,
One fatal day destroys!
For all their hopes and joys
One bitter hour blasphemes,
One fatal day destroys!
The sweet familiar tones
Of oft remembered words
Mix with my own wild groans,
Pierce my weak heart like swords.
Of oft remembered words
Mix with my own wild groans,
Pierce my weak heart like swords.
The music of the rill
We kissed to in the grove
Haunts my sad spirit still
With bygone hours of love.
We kissed to in the grove
Haunts my sad spirit still
With bygone hours of love.
My heart is like a plot
Of flowers choked with tares,
All happiness forgot,
O'ergrown with dank grey cares.
Of flowers choked with tares,
All happiness forgot,
O'ergrown with dank grey cares.
Like a doomed ship that steers
Upon a sudden reef,
My torn heart fills with tears
And founders in its grief.
Upon a sudden reef,
My torn heart fills with tears
And founders in its grief.
From a Breton folk-song.