Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Alice Meynell 1847–1922

Song

Meynell

MY Fair, no beauty of thine will last,

Save in my love’s eternity.

Thy smiles, that light thee fitfully,

Are lost forever—their moment past—

Except the few thou givest to me.

Thy sweet words vanish day by day,

As all breath of mortality;

Thy laughter, done, must cease to be,

And all thy dear tones pass away,

Except the few that sing to me.

Hide then within my heart, oh, hide

All thou art loath should go from thee.

Be kinder to thyself and me.

My cupful from this river’s tide

Shall never reach the long sad sea.