| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | The Maid’s Lament | | By Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) |
| | | I LOVED him not; and yet now he is gone, | |
| I feel I am alone. | |
| I check’d him while he spoke; yet, could he speak, | |
| Alas! I would not check. | |
| For reasons not to love him once I sought, | 5 |
| And wearied all my thought | |
| To vex myself and him; I now would give | |
| My love, could he but live | |
| Who lately lived for me, and when he found | |
| ’Twas vain, in holy ground | 10 |
| He hid his face amid the shades of death. | |
| I waste for him my breath | |
| Who wasted his for me; but mine returns, | |
| And this lorn bosom burns | |
| With stifling heat, heaving it up in sleep, | 15 |
| And waking me to weep | |
| Tears that had melted his soft heart: for years | |
| Wept he as bitter tears. | |
| ‘Merciful God!’ such was his latest prayer, | |
| ‘These may she never share!’ | 20 |
| Quieter is his breath, his breast more cold | |
| Than daisies in the mould, | |
| Where children spell, athwart the churchyard gate, | |
| His name and life’s brief date. | |
| Pray for him, gentle souls, whoe’er you be, | 25 |
| And, O, pray too for me! | | | | |
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