| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Poet’s Song to His Wife |
| | | Barry Cornwall (1787–1874) |
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| HOW many summers, love, | |
| Have I been thine? | |
| How many days, thou dove, | |
| Hast thou been mine? | |
| Time, like the winged wind | 5 |
| When ’t bends the flowers, | |
| Hath left no mark behind, | |
| To count the hours. | |
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| Some weight of thought, though loth, | |
| On thee he leaves; | 10 |
| Some lines of care round both | |
| Perhaps he weaves; | |
| Some fears,—a soft regret | |
| For joys scarce known; | |
| Sweet looks we half forget;— | 15 |
| All else is flown! | |
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| Ah!—With what thankless heart | |
| I mourn and sing! | |
| Look, where our children start, | |
| Like sudden Spring! | 20 |
| With tongues all sweet and low, | |
| Like a pleasant rhyme, | |
| They tell how much I owe | |
| To thee and Time! | |
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