Peace! What Do Tears Avail?

Barry Cornwall 1787 (Leeds, Yorkshire) – 1874 (London)



PEACE! what do tears avail?  
She lies all dumb and pale,  
 And from her eye  
The spirit of lovely life is fading,  
 And she must die!
Why looks the lover wroth? the friend upbraiding?  
 Reply, reply!  
 
Hath she not dwelt too long  
’Midst pain, and grief, and wrong?  
 Then, why not die?
Why suffer again her doom of sorrow,  
 And hopeless lie?  
Why nurse the trembling dream until to-morrow?  
 Reply, reply!  
 
Death! Take her to thine arms,
In all her stainless charms,  
 And with her fly  
To heavenly haunts, where, clad in brightness,  
 The Angels lie.  
Wilt bear her there, O Death! in all her whiteness?
 Reply, reply!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
36

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabcbcB ddbebeB ffbgbgB
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 630
Words 110
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7

Barry Cornwall

Bryan Waller Procter (pseud. Barry Cornwall) was an English poet who served as a Commissioner in Lunacy. more…

All Barry Cornwall poems | Barry Cornwall Books

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