The Poetical Works of William Motherwell/Away! Away! O, Do Not Say!
Away! Away! O, Do Not Say.
Away! away! O, do not say
He can prove false to me:
Let me believe but this brief day
In his fidelity;
Tell me, that rivers backward flow,
That unsunned snows like fire-brands glow,
I may believe that lay,
But never can believe that he
Is false and fled away.
Ill acted part! ill acted part!
I knew his noble mind,
He could not break a trusting heart,
Nor leave his love behind;
Tell me yon sun will cease to rise,
Or stars at night to gem the skies,
I may believe such lay;
But never can believe that he
Is false and fled away.
Can it be so? O, surely no!
Must I perforce believe
That he I loved and trusted so,
Vowed only to deceive?
Heap coals of fire on this lone head,
Or in pure pity strike me dead,—
'Twere kindness, on the day
That tells me one I loved so well,
Is false,—is fled away!