HOW many lilies be ablow? Count them and see -- Seven by the wail, and seven by the door; 'Tis time he came to me. Oh, love's bitter! Was ever a whiter web than this That I spin to-day? A wedding gown or a winding sheet, Love, which shall it be? Oh, love's bitter! The old dames stand in the street, 'Neath the willow trees; And they mark how white my lilies blow, And they hear my bees. Oh, love's bitter! And one dame says, "Five lads of mine Be in the sea;" Another says, "That lad of mine, He came not back to me." Oh, love's bitter! The willow trees grow down to the wharves, Green as of old; (Green as the day he went from me;) The sea is of gold. Oh, 1ove's bitter! Two ships I see: one in the west -- Love is it thine? One in the east, in a windy mist -- Oh, love, which is thine? Oh, love's bitter! Then speak the dames : "Her ship went down That night at sea." My seven white lilies -- do ye hear? For this they speak of me! Oh, love's bitter! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH ON S.P., A CHILD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL by BEN JONSON WORLD'S WORTH by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI EASTER 1916 by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS A MOOD by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH IMITATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE by JOHN ARMSTRONG IN TIME OF WAR by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES |