Lord Alfred Tennyson

Maud: a Monodrama (Part Ii, Excerpt)

.
 
 
   O that 'twere possible
.
 
 
  After long grief and pain
.
 
 
  To find the arms of my true love
.
 
 
  Round me once again!2.
 
 
   When I was wont to meet her
.
 
 
  In the silent woody places
.
 
 
  By the home that gave me birth,
.
 
 
  We stood tranced in long embraces
.
 
 
  Mixt with kisses sweeter sweeter
.
 
 
  Than anything on earth.2.
 
 
   A shadow flits before me,
.
 
 
  Not thou, but like to thee:
.
 
 
  Ah Christ, that it were possible
.
 
 
  For one short hour to see
.
 
 
  The souls we loved, that they might tell us
.
 
 
  What and where they be.2.
 
 
   It leads me forth at evening,
.
 
 
  It lightly winds and steals
.
 
 
  In a cold white robe before me,
.
 
 
  When all my spirit reels
.
 
 
  At the shouts, the leagues of lights,
.
 
 
  And the roaring of the wheels.2.
 
 
   Half the night I waste in sighs,
.
 
 
  Half in dreams I sorrow after
.
 
 
  The delight of early skies;
.
 
 
  In a wakeful doze I sorrow
.
 
 
  For the hand, the lips, the eyes,
.
 
 
  For the meeting of the morrow,
.
 
 
  The delight of happy laughter,
.
 
 
  The delight of low replies.2.
 
 
   ‘Tis a morning pure and sweet,
.
 
 
  And a dewy splendour falls
.
 
 
  On the little flower that clings
.
 
 
  To the turrets and the walls;
.
 
 
  ’Tis a morning pure and sweet,
.
 
 
  And the light and shadow fleet;
.
 
 
  She is walking in the meadow,
.
 
 
  And the woodland echo rings;
.
 
 
  In a moment we shall meet;
.
 
 
  She is singing in the meadow,
.
 
 
  And the rivulet at her feet
.
 
 
  Ripples on in light and shadow
.
 
 
  To the ballad that she sings.2.
 
 
   So I hear her sing as of old,
.
 
 
  My bird with the shining head,
.
 
 
  My own dove with the tender eye?
.
 
 
  But there rings on a sudden a passionate cry,
.
 
 
  There is some one dying or dead,
.
 
 
  And a sullen thunder is roll’d;
.
 
 
  For a tumult shakes the city,
.
 
 
  And I wake, my dream is fled;
.
 
 
  In the shuddering dawn, behold,
.
 
 
  Without knowledge, without pity,
.
 
 
  By the curtains of my bed
.
 
 
  That abiding phantom cold.2.
 
 
   Get thee hence, nor come again,
.
 
 
  Mix not memory with doubt,
.
 
 
  Pass, thou deathlike type of pain,
.
 
 
  Pass and cease to move about!
.
 
 
  'Tis the blot upon the brain
.
 
 
  That will show itself without.2.
 
 
   Then I rise, the eave-drops fall,
.
 
 
  And the yellow vapours choke
.
 
 
  The great city sounding wide;
.
 
 
  The day comes, a dull red ball
.
 
 
  Wrapt in drifts of lurid smoke
.
 
 
  On the misty river-tide.2.
 
 
   Thro’ the hubbub of the market
.
 
 
  I steal, a wasted frame;
.
 
 
  It crosses here, it crosses there,
.
 
 
  Thro’ all that crowd confused and loud,
.
 
 
  The shadow still the same;
.
 
 
  And on my heavy eyelids
.
 
 
  My anguish hangs like shame.2.
 
 
   Alas for her that met me,
.
 
 
  That heard me softly call,
.
 
 
  Came glimmering thro’ the laurels
.
 
 
  At the quiet evenfall,
.
 
 
  In the garden by the turrets
.
 
 
  Of the old manorial hall.2.
 
 
   Would the happy spirit descend
.
 
 
  From the realms of light and song,
.
 
 
  In the chamber or the street,
.
 
 
  As she looks among the blest,
.
 
 
  Should I fear to greet my friend
.
 
 
  Or to say “Forgive the wrong,”
.
 
 
  Or to ask her, “Take me, sweet,
.
 
 
  To the regions of thy rest”?2.
 
 
   But the broad light glares and beats,
.
 
 
  And the shadow flits and fleets
.
 
 
  And will not let me be;
.
 
 
  And I loathe the squares and streets,
.
 
 
  And the faces that one meets,
.
 
 
  Hearts with no love for me:
.
 
 
  Always I long to creep
.
 
 
  Into some still cavern deep,
.
 
 
  There to weep, and weep, and weep
.
 
 
  My whole soul out to thee....
Other works by Lord Alfred Tennyson...



Top