Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Sonet VI. As in the Hostel by the Bridge I Sate

As in the hostel by the bridge I sate,
Nailed with indifference fondly deemed complete,
And (O strange chance, more sorrowful than sweet)
The counterfeit of her that was my fate,
Dressed in like vesture, graceful and sedate,
Went quietly up the vacant village street,
The still small sound of her most dainty feet
Shook, like a trumpet blast, my soul's estate.
Instant revolt ran riot through my brain,
And all night long, thereafter, hour by hour,
The pageant of dead love before my eyes
Went proudly; and old hopes, broke loose again
From the restraint of wisely temperate power,
With ineffectual ardour sought to rise. 

1. I Know Not How, But As I Count
2. Requiem
3. Songs of Travel and Other Verses. 22. I HAVE trod the upward and the downward slope
4. To Charles Baxter
5. Songs of Travel and Other Verses. 18. THE stormy evening closes now in vain

Print

3748 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version