AWAY, AWAY, YE NOTES OF WOE![lower-roman 1][decimal 1]
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.[lower-roman 2]
To me they speak of brighter days—
But lull the chords, for now, alas![lower-roman 3]
I must not think, I may not gaze,[lower-roman 4]
On what I am—on what I was.
2.
The voice that made those sounds more sweet[lower-roman 5]
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,
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[lower-roman 6]
The well remembered Echoes thrill;
I hear a voice I would not hear,
Variants
Notes
- ↑ ["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.]