Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864). Why, Why Repine. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1909. The Book of Georgian Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.

Why, Why Repine

By Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)


WHY, why repine, my pensive friend,
At pleasures slipped away?
Some the stern Fates will never lend,
And all refuse to stay.

I see the rainbow in the sky,	5
The dew upon the grass,
I see them, and I ask not why
They glimmer or they pass.

With folded arms I linger not
To call them back; ’twere vain;	10
In this, or in some other spot,
I know they’ll shine again.