Stanzas for Music

1869

The morn was bright, the steeds were light,The wedding guests were gay;Young Ellen stood within the woodAnd watched them pass away.She scarcely saw the gallant train,The tear-drop dimmed her ee;Unheard the maiden did complainBeneath the Willow tree.

"O Robin, thou didst love me well,Till on a bitter dayShe came, the Lady Isabel,And stole my Love away.My tears are vain, I live againIn days that used to be,When I could meet thy welcome feetBeneath the Willow tree.

"O Willow gray, I may not stayTill Spring renew thy leaf,But I will hide myself away,And nurse a hopeless grief.It shall not dim life's joy for him,My tears he shall not see;While he is by, I'll come not nighMy weeping Willow tree.

"But when I die, O let me lieBeneath thy loving shade,That he may loiter careless byWhere I am lowly laid.And let the white white marble tell,If he should stoop to see,'Here lies a maid that loved thee well,Beneath the Willow tree.'"

From Phantasmagoria and Other Poems (1869), via the English Wikisource transcription.

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