Sunday Poetry - Old Loves

Andrew Lang (picture from here) is best known for his collections of fairy tales & legends that were collected in the Blue Fairy Book, Lilac Fairy Book, the Yellow Fairy Book etc. He also wrote on French literature, Scottish history & literature & poetry. This poem, O Joy of Love's Renewing, is sweetly melancholic, remembering lost delights.

O joy of love's renewing,
Could love be born again;
Relenting for thy rueing,
And pitying my pain:
O joy of love's awaking,
Could love arise from sleep,
Forgiving our forsaking
The fields we would not reap!


Fleet, fleet we fly, pursuing
The love that fled amain,
But will he list our wooing,
Or call we but in vain?
Ah! vain is all our wooing,
And all our prayers are vain,
Love listeth not our suing,
Love will not wake again.