Songs from "The Brides' Tragedy." I. Hesperus Sings by Thomas Lovell Beddoes. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

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

Songs from “The Brides’ Tragedy.” I. Hesperus Sings

Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–49)


POOR old pilgrim Misery,
Beneath the silent moon he sate,
A-listening to the screech owl’s cry
And the cold wind’s goblin prate;
Beside him lay his staff of yew	5
With wither’d willow twin’d,
His scant gray hair all wet with dew,
His cheeks with grief ybrin’d;
And his cry it was ever, alack!
Alack, and woe is me!	10

Anon a wanton imp astray
His piteous moaning hears,
And from his bosom steals away
His rosary of tears:
With his plunder fled that urchin elf,	15
And hid it in your eyes;
Then tell me back the stolen pelf,
Give up the lawless prize;
Or your cry shall be ever, alack!
Alack, and woe is me!	20