Poem by Thomas Hood

Stanzas (Is there a bitter pang for love removed)

Is there a bitter pang for love removed,
  O God! The dead love doth not cost more tears
Than the alive, the loving, the beloved--
  Not yet, not yet beyond all hopes and fears!
        Would I were laid
        Under the shade
Of the calm grave, and the long grass of years,--

That love might die with sorrow:--I am sorrow;
  And she, that loves me tenderest, doth press
Most poison from my cruel lips, and borrow
  Only new anguish from the old caress;
         Oh, this world's grief
         Hath no relief

In being wrung from a great happiness.
Would I had never filled thine eyes with love,
  For love is only tears: would I had never
Breathed such a curse-like blessing as we prove;
  Now, if "Farewell" _could_ bless thee, I would sever!
         Would I were laid
         Under the shade
Of the cold tomb, and the long grass forever!

1. The Departure of Summer
2. Ballad (She's up and gone, the graceless girl)
3. The Two Peacocks of Bedfont
4. Written in Keats' “Endymion”
5. The Two Swans

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