Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy (1844–1881)

Song: ‘Has summer come without the rose’ (from Lays of France)

HAS summer come without the rose,

Or left the bird behind?

Is the blue changed above thee,

O world? or am I blind?

Will you change every flower that grows,

Or only change this spot—

Where she who said, I love thee,

Now says, I love thee not?

The skies seemed true above thee;

The rose true on the tree;

The bird seemed true the summer through;

But all proved false to me:

World, is there one good thing in you—

Life, love, or death—or what?

Since lips that sang I love thee

Have said, I love thee not?

I think the sun’s kiss will scarce fall

Into one flower’s gold cup;

I think the bird will miss me,

And give the summer up:

O sweet place, desolate in tall

Wild grass, have you forgot

How her lips loved to kiss me,

Now that they kiss me not?

Be false or fair above me;

Come back with any face,

Summer! do I care what you do?

You cannot change one place—

The grass, the leaves, the earth, the dew,—

The grave I make the spot,

Here where she used to love me,

Here where she loves me not.