The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #6175 Message #1320317
Posted By: Singing Referee
08-Nov-04 - 07:55 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: I Wandered by a Brookside
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BROOKSIDE (Lord Houghton)
Found it!
The Brookside
by Lord Houghton
I wandered by the brookside, I wandered by the mill; I could not hear the brook flow,- The noisy wheel was still; There was no burr of grasshopper, No chirp of any bird, But the beating of my own heart Was all the sound I heard.
I sat beneath the elm tree; I watched the long, long shade, And, as it grew still longer, I did not feel afraid; For I listened for a footfall, I listened for a word,- But the beating of my own heart Was all the sound I heard.
He came not,-no, he came not,- The night came on alone,- The little stars sat one by one, Each on his golden throne; The evening wind passed by my cheek, The leaves above were stirred, But the beating of my own heart Was all the sound I heard.
Fast, silent tears were flowing, When something stood behind; A hand was on my shoulder,- I knew its touch was kind; It drew me nearer,-nearer,- We did not speak one word, For the beating of our own hearts Was all the sound we heard.
Note "He came not......", another reference to this poem suggests it was a sonnet written to Charles Lamb.
Now I read it again, the words here do scan to the tune, so I'm not sure why I changed them!