Shall I not know? Shall I not heed? When your last sun, with wening light, Shall I not rush from out the night Ah, the black moment comes! Draw nigh, There is no answer, though I die Is it the first kiss - or the last?" We have two beautiful poems expressing the thoughts of a young husband as his fair young wife lies dead. While both are strangely pathetic, why is it that the Victorian poem appeals to our emotions more strongly? ELEGY By Henry King (Songs of Three Centuries, page 28) "Sleep on, my love, in thy cold bed, My last good night! Thou wilt not wake Stay for me there! I will not fail And follow thee with all the speed And every hour a step towards thee. But hark! my pulse, like a soft drum, I shall at last sit down by thee. The thought of this bids me mo on, With hope and comfort. Dear forgive Divided, with but half a heart, Till we shall meet, and never part." The other poem appeals to our emotions through the delicate fragrance of the violets; the forest dream is a contrast to the picture of frosty winter. The soft touch es displayed here and there are in perfect harmony with the delicacy of the entire poem. "Searching for flowers in the forest, That I was doing this morning When I was awaken'd by you. Breathing the first sweet fragrance Of the hemlock and the pine, Setting my foot on the mosses, And the tangled partridge vine; |