Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CRUEL AGNES by AUGUSTA DAVIES WEBSTER

First Line: HER HAIR WAS BROWN AS AUTUMN LEAVES
Last Line: AND OH! SO LOUD AS THE WILD WIND RAVES.
HER hair was brown as autumn leaves,
Fine as the web the spider weaves;
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
Her eye was blue as summer sky
When summer's noontide sun is high;
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

Her breast was white as scented May
When sweet spring flowers the hawthorn spray;
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
Her heart was cold as winter's chill
When all the streams are iced and still.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

She was the fairest maid of all,
Her pride was great as her love was small:
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
He was noble and brave and true,
His love was much as his lands were few.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

He told his love; with a light smile
She trifled with her curls the while:
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
She heard his love-prayer, nothing loth,
And pledged her hand and gave her troth;
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

But yet she told him in her pride
She could not be a poor man's bride;
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
She bade him toil from morn to night
To raise his fortunes to her height.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

He left his home in stranger hands,
And sought for gold in far off lands:
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
He crossed again the stormy brine,
"Love, I am rich, now art thou mine:"
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

She said, "There needs a famous name
Such honour at my hands to claim."
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
He wandered once again afar,
To win the glories of the war.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

He would not flee, he would not yield,
He perished on the battle field.
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
They brought him, back to his last rest,
Her love-gift never left his breast;
And oh! so laud as the wild wind raves.

And ere a month had passed away
She passed his grave in bride's array;
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
And sold, to be a noble's wife,
To an old baron her young life.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

She queened in jewels and in gold,
But ere the time her brow grew old:
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
The damp sod pressed upon his breast,
But he had peace in his lone rest.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

Her days warred on in woe and strife,
And she was weary of her life:
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
Her tyrant lord, with cold stern eye,
Was well content to see her die.
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

She called her old nurse to her side
On the chill morning when she died;
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
And bade her see her grave was made
By that low grave where he was laid;
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.

Saying, "Though I gave him no true love,
Holding myself too far above,"
The white snow falls on the long low graves,
"Yet shall I rest more calmly near
The only one that held me dear."
And oh! so loud as the wild wind raves.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net