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Poems (Acton)/The Wandering Minstrel

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For works with similar titles, see The Wandering Minstrel.
4625065Poems — The Wandering MinstrelHarriet Acton and Rose Acton

THE WANDERING MINSTREL. ——
Oh! ask no gayer measure
From the Wand'ring Minstrel lone;
Of lays of mirth and pleasure
Even memory is gone.
Ask ye for words of gladness
'Mid the mourner's bitter woe?
Seek ye a tale of love from one
Whose hopes have been laid low?
Kneel ye to call to earth again
The loved ones who are gone,
Ere ye ask a gayer measure
Of the Wand'ring Minstrel lone.
As the soul-wearied pilgrim,
Through a world of ceaseless care,
Watches, at last, fate's low'ring clouds
Sweep by, without despair—
So is it with the stricken heart,
Whose dreams of joy are o'er;
Through its drear path of life, deceived
By hope's mirage no more:
So is it with the heart ye seek
To gladden, as your own,
The sickening, unpitied heart
Of the Wand'ring Minstrel lone.

Would ye raise the fancied cup of bliss
To the pale and trembling lip,
And bid it dream it tastes the draught
It, waking, could not sip?
Would ye ask for tones of gladness,
Whose echoes must be sighs?
Would ye seek for sunny smiles of joy,
In wan and care-dimmed eyes?
Then ask not lays of pleasure
Where their memory is gone;
Ye can list no gayer measure
From the Wand'ring Minstrel lone.
R. A.