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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A LOST LOVE by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: TWAS A SUMMER AGO WHEN HE LEFT ME HERE
Last Line: GOOD-BY, MY LOVER; GOOD-BY!
Subject(s): LOVE - LOSS OF; SEA; SUMMER; OCEAN;

'TWAS a summer ago when he left me here --
A summer of smiles, with never a tear
Till I said to him, with a sob, my dear, --
Good-by, my lover; good-by!

For I loved him, O as the stars love night!
And my cheeks for him flashed red and white
When first he called me his Heart's delight, --
Good-by, my lover; good-by!

The touch of his hand was a thing divine
As he sat with me in the soft moonshine
And drank of my love as men drink wine, --
Good-by, my lover; good-by!

And never a night as I knelt in prayer,
In thought as white as our own souls were,
But in fancy he came and he kissed me there, --
Good-by, my lover; good-by!

But now -- ah, @3now!@1 what an empty place
My whole heart is! -- Of the old embrace
And the kiss I loved there lives no trace --
Good-by, my lover; good-by!

He sailed not over the stormy sea,
And he went not down in the waves -- not he --
But O, he is lost -- for he married me --
Good-by, my lover; good-by!



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