Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Robert Seymour Bridges 1844–1930

I Will Not Let Thee Go

BridgesR

I WILL not let thee go.

Ends all our month-long love in this?

Can it be summ’d up so,

Quit in a single kiss?

I will not let thee go.

I will not let thee go.

If thy words’breath could scare thy deeds,

As the soft south can blow

And toss the feather’d seeds,

Then might I let thee go.

I will not let thee go.

Had not the great sun seen, I might;

Or were he reckon’d slow

To bring the false to light,

Then might I let thee go.

I will not let thee go.

The stars that crowd the summer skies

Have watch’d us so below

With all their million eyes,

I dare not let thee go.

I will not let thee go.

Have we not chid the changeful moon,

Now rising late, and now

Because she set too soon,

And shall I let thee go?

I will not let thee go.

Have not the young flowers been content,

Pluck’d ere their buds could blow,

To seal our sacrament?

I cannot let thee go.

I will not let thee go.

I hold thee by too many bands:

Thou sayest farewell, and, lo!

I have thee by the hands,

And will not let thee go.