| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Peace! What Do Tears Avail? |
| | | Barry Cornwall (1787–1874) |
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| PEACE! what do tears avail? | |
| She lies all dumb and pale, | |
| And from her eye | |
| The spirit of lovely life is fading, | |
| And she must die! | 5 |
| Why looks the lover wroth? the friend upbraiding? | |
| Reply, reply! | |
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| Hath she not dwelt too long | |
| ’Midst pain, and grief, and wrong? | |
| Then, why not die? | 10 |
| Why suffer again her doom of sorrow, | |
| And hopeless lie? | |
| Why nurse the trembling dream until to-morrow? | |
| Reply, reply! | |
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| Death! Take her to thine arms, | 15 |
| In all her stainless charms, | |
| And with her fly | |
| To heavenly haunts, where, clad in brightness, | |
| The Angels lie. | |
| Wilt bear her there, O Death! in all her whiteness? | 20 |
| Reply, reply! | |
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