The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Part 81

SONG

I

Every day hath its night: Every night its morn: Thorough dark and bright Winged hours are borne; Ah! welaway!

Seasons flower and fade; Golden calm and storm Mingle day by day.

There is no bright form Doth not cast a shade-- Ah! welaway!

II

When we laugh, and our mirth Apes the happy vein, We're so kin to earth, Pleasaunce fathers pain-- Ah! welaway!

Madness laugheth loud: Laughter bringeth tears: Eyes are worn away Till the end of fears Cometh in the shroud, Ah! welaway!

III

All is change, woe or weal; Joy is Sorrow's brother; Grief and gladness steal Symbols of each other; Ah! welaway!

Larks in heaven's cope Sing: the culvers mourn All the livelong day.

Be not all forlorn; Let us weep, in hope-- Ah! welaway!

NOTHING WILL DIE

Reprinted without any important alteration among the 'Juvenilia' in 1871 and onward. No change made except that "through" is spelt "thro',"

and in the last line "and" is subst.i.tuted for "all".

When will the stream be aweary of flowing Under my eye?

When will the wind be aweary of blowing Over the sky?

When will the clouds be aweary of fleeting?

When will the heart be aweary of beating?

And nature die?

Never, oh! never, nothing will die?

The stream flows, The wind blows, The cloud fleets, The heart beats, Nothing will die.

Nothing will die; All things will change Through eternity.

'Tis the world's winter; Autumn and summer Are gone long ago; Earth is dry to the centre, But spring, a new comer, A spring rich and strange, Shall make the winds blow Round and round, Through and through, Here and there, Till the air And the ground Shall be filled with life anew.

The world was never made; It will change, but it will not fade.

So let the wind range; For even and morn Ever will be Through eternity.

Nothing was born; Nothing will die; All things will change.

ALL THINGS WILL DIE

Reprinted among 'Juvenilia' in 1872 and onward, without alteration.

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing Under my eye; Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing Over the sky.

One after another the white clouds are fleeting; Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating Full merrily; Yet all things must die.

The stream will cease to flow; The wind will cease to blow; The clouds will cease to fleet; The heart will cease to beat; For all things must die.

All things must die.

Spring will come never more.

Oh! vanity!

Death waits at the door.

See! our friends are all forsaking The wine and the merrymaking.

We are called--we must go.

Laid low, very low, In the dark we must lie.

The merry glees are still; The voice of the bird Shall no more be heard, Nor the wind on the hill.

Oh! misery!

Hark! death is calling While I speak to ye, The jaw is falling, The red cheek paling, The strong limbs failing; Ice with the warm blood mixing; The eyeb.a.l.l.s fixing.

Nine times goes the pa.s.sing bell: Ye merry souls, farewell.

The old earth Had a birth, As all men know, Long ago.

And the old earth must die.

So let the warm winds range, And the blue wave beat the sh.o.r.e; For even and morn Ye will never see Through eternity.

All things were born.

Ye will come never more, For all things must die.

HERO TO LEANDER

Oh go not yet, my love, The night is dark and vast; The white moon is hid in her heaven above, And the waves climb high and fast.

Oh! kiss me, kiss me, once again, Lest thy kiss should be the last.

Oh kiss me ere we part; Grow closer to my heart.

My heart is warmer surely than the bosom of the main.

Oh joy! 0 bliss of blisses!

My heart of hearts art thou.

Come bathe me with thy kisses, My eyelids and my brow.