Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ELEGIAC BALLAD, by HANNAH COWLEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ELEGIAC BALLAD, by                    
First Line: Where is my lover and my friend?
Last Line: I join my lover and my friend.
Alternate Author Name(s): Matilda, Anna; Parkhouse, Hannah
Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation


WHERE is my lover and my friend?
Surely he will not linger long:
He early used to seek my cot,
And cheer me with his dulcet song.

Where is my lover and my friend?
Sadder the pensive twilight grows:
Its latest gleams are now no more,
The screech-owl flaps, the north wind blows.

Where is my lover and my friend?
Hark! the hoarse thunder growls around;
Nearer and nearer are its peals,
The livid lightnings skim the ground.

Where is my lover and my friend?
The storm is past, the sky is clear:
I'll leave the cot, and trace the path
Which each dear evening brings him here.

Where is my lover and my friend?
My eye darts o'er the mead, the vale,
He is not there! -- What caused his stay?
I'll chide, nor listen to his tale.

Where is my lover and my friend?
Perhaps he loiters through the grove:
I'll thither bend my eager steps --
Guide them, kind Fortune, to my love.

There is my lover and my friend!
I know his dear, his graceful form:
Yon lofty oak supports his head --
Its foliage kept him from the storm.

O speak, my lover and my friend!
See! anxious through the night I came;
I scorn the babbling neighbours' talk,
Nor heed their comments or their blame.

O gracious God! my hair upheaves!
Thou didst the blasting lightning send!
I sink -- O neighbour, dig the grave --
I join my lover and my friend.





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