| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXVII. Vain Longing
From ‘Maud’ | | By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | | O THAT ’twere possible | |
| After long grief and pain | |
| To find the arms of my true love | |
| Round me once again!… | |
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| A shadow flits before me, | 5 |
| 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…. | 10 |
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| 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, | 15 |
| For the meeting of the morrow, | |
| The delight of happy laughter, | |
| The delight of low replies. | | | | |
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