How could I look upon the day? They should have stabbed me where I lay, They should have trod me into clay, O! breaking heart that will not break, O! pale, pale face so sweet and meek, Thou smilest, but thou dost not speak, Up from my heart unto my eyes, Within thy heart my arrow lies, O cursed hand! oh cursed blow! Oriana! O happy thou that liest low, All night the silence seems to flow Beside me in my utter woe, I walk, I dare not think of thee, Oriana. Thou liest beneath the greenwood tree, I dare not die and come to thee, Oriana. I hear the roaring of the sea, Oriana. CIRCUMSTANCE. Two children in two neighbor villages Two lovers whispering by an orchard wall; I would be a merman bold; I would sit and sing the whole of the day; Laughingly, laughingly; And then we would wander away, away To the pale-green sea-groves straight and high, There would be neither moon nor star; But the wave would make music above us afar Low thunder and light in the magic night Neither moon nor star. We would call aloud in the dreamy dells, All night, merrily, merrily; They would pelt me with starry spangles and shells, Laughing and clapping their hands between, All night, merrily, merrily; But I would throw them back in mine O! what a happy life were mine |