| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
| |
| A Simple Maid |
| | | Lord De Tabley (John Byrne Leicester Warren) (b. 1835) |
| |
| |
| THOU hast lost thy love, poor fool, | |
| Creep into thy bed and weep. | |
| Loss must be a maiden’s school, | |
| Loss and love and one long sleep. | |
| Half her time perplex’d with tears | 5 |
| Till the dust end all her years,— | |
| All her fears. | |
| |
| Was thy love so gracious, lass? | |
| Never such a love before | |
| In this old world came to pass, | 10 |
| Nor shall be for evermore. | |
| Sweet and true, a king of men, | |
| None like him shall come again,— | |
| Come again. | |
| |
| Was thy bud so precious, lass, | 15 |
| Opening to a perfect rose? | |
| Till between the leaves, alas! | |
| Winter fell in flaky snows. | |
| Then, ah! then, its crimson side | |
| Brake upon the briers and died,— | 20 |
| Brake and died. | |
| |
|
|
|
