[Skip Navigation]

Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Sonnet, Supposed To Have Been Addressed By A Female Lunatic To A Lady

Henry Kirk White

Lady, thou weepest for the Maniac’s woe,
  And thou art fair, and thou, like me, art young;
Oh! may thy bosom never, never know
  The pangs with which my wretched heart is wrung.
I had a mother once—a brother too—
  (Beneath yon yew my father rests his head:)
I had a lover once, and kind and true,
  But mother, brother, lover, all are fled!
Yet, whence the tear which dims thy lovely eye?
  Oh! gentle lady—not for me thus weep,
The green sod soon upon my breast will lie,
  And soft and sound will be my peaceful sleep.
Go thou, and pluck the roses while they bloom—
  My hopes lie buried in the silent tomb.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White
Add Keyword Tags

Separate each tag with a space. You may add as many tags as you'd like to each poem.

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

More Info

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any Internet device.