Away, Away, Ye Notes Of Woe![ac][31]
1.
Away, away, ye notes of Woe!
Be silent, thou once soothing Strain,
Or I must flee from hence—for, oh!
I dare not trust those sounds again.[ad]
To me they speak of brighter days—
But lull the chords, for now, alas![ae]
I must not think, I may not gaze,[af]
On what I am—on what I was.
2.
The voice that made those sounds more sweet[ag]
Is hushed, and all their charms are fled;
And now their softest notes repeat
A dirge, an anthem o'er the dead!
Yes, Thyrza! yes, they breathe of thee,
Belovéd dust! since dust thou art;
And all that once was Harmony
Is worse than discord to my heart!
3.
'Tis silent all!—but on my ear[ah]
The well remembered Echoes thrill;
I hear a voice I would not hear,
A voice that now might well be still:
Yet oft my doubting Soul 'twill shake;
Ev'n Slumber owns its gentle tone,
Till Consciousness will vainly wake
To listen, though the dream be flown.
4.
Sweet Thyrza! waking as in sleep,
Thou art but now a lovely dream;
A Star that trembled o'er the deep,
Then turned from earth its tender beam.
But he who through Life's dreary way
Must pa**, when Heaven is veiled in wrath,
Will long lament the vanished ray
That scattered gladness o'er his path.
December 8, 1811.
[First published, Childe Harold, 1812 (4to).]
Footnotes
[ac] {35} Stanzas.—[MS. Editions 1812-1832.]
[31] ["I wrote it a day or two ago, on hearing a song of former days."—Letter to Hodgson, December 8, 1811, Letters, 1898, ii. 82.]
[ad] I dare not hear——.—[MS. erased.]
[ae] But hush the chords——.—[MS. erased.]
[af] ——I dare not gaze.—[MS. erased.]
[ag] The voice that made that song more sweet.—[MS.]
[ah] 'Tis silent now——.—[MS.]