Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FAMILIAR GRIEF, INTIMATE JOY by ANNA BUNSTON DE BARY

First Line: WHEN GRIEF HAS GONE A-MAYING
Last Line: TO DUMB AND EARLESS NIGHT.
Subject(s): GRIEF; SORROW; SADNESS;
"Our sweetest songs are those
That tell of saddest thought."
—SHELLEY.

WHEN Grief has gone a-maying
The thorns may show a tress,
Dim waters be betraying
The colour of her dress.

Grief doth not alway blind us,
And men have read her eyes;
She sometimes falls behind us,
That we may count her sighs.

Not so with Joy. None view him,
Yet, when he takes his flight,
Men rise up and pursue him
To dumb and earless night.



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