Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.

Solemn Rondeau

Charles Dent Bell (1818–1898)

BEFORE he pass’d from mortal view

To where he sleeps beneath the yew

He said ‘Weep not: to thee I’ll come,

If spirits ever leave that home

Thro’ whose dark gates I go from you.’

How firm his promise well I knew;

So as he spake life sweeter grew,

And flower’d again my heart in bloom,

Before he pass’d.

Alas! the sweet hope is not true;

He may not tread the avenue

That leadeth from the nether gloom;

Else would he come to this dear room,

I heard his vow,—God heard it too,

Before he pass’d!