Classic Poem

LUCY LEE

The Writing

O, I am lost, my soul must pine
For one too lofty to be mine:
There comes no day when she will stand
To take my ring on her fair hand,
No hour can bring her to beguile
My hopeless love with one soft smile,
But I must wear my heart away
With restless thought from day to day.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

For air-rock'd trees within a wall
Begirt the park around her hall,
And from its gate there winds, below
The elms, a road I dare not go,
Where spreading waters calmly lie
Reflecting snow-white clouds on high;
And marble-pillar'd walls contain
The high-born maid I love in vain.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

And glitt'ring coach-wheels roll to bear
Her out to take the sunny air,
All smiling as in that day's light
That first reveal'd her to my sight;
But evening takes her home to shine
As fair to other eyes, while mine,
By fancy's lovely visions blest
Seem still to see her jewell'd breast.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

And I am peaceless as the sand
That's roll'd by waves along the strand,
Or whirl'd aloft by sunny air
When darksome waters leave it bare,
But she is like the steep rock's side
That's idly beaten by the tide
In sunny rest; too high above
My lowly heart to meet its love.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

But O that God would let me find
Some way to rise by might of mind,
As some have risen that became
So high in state, so great in name;
That I might then with joy and pride
But stand one moment by her side,
And tell her how the only aim
Of all my toil was her dear name.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

For when, by trees that years ago
Her own forefathers rode below,
She rides within her father's glades
O'ercast by his own hills' wide shades,
Where glitt'ring rivers spread or flow
As he may stay or let them go;
I quail to see so far above
My hapless lot the maid I love.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

And when I saw her briskly drawn
Up o'er the timber-skirted lawn,
Where zephyrs shook the bents below
The western sunset's yellow glow,
The snow-white gate where she had past
Swung on a while, but stopp'd at last;
Though my poor heart, stirr'd up at sight
Of her, ne'er rested through the night.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

Yet let me never linger on
To see her when her grace is gone,
But let my fancy only bear
Her youthful looks so fresh and fair;
The while I bless my God that brought
Her lovely form to hold my thought
From all beside that might debase
My love of purity and grace.
O Lucy Lee, dear Lucy Lee,
Why have I set my heart on thee!

So Mr. Wanhope, with a weary mind
And time-worn body, wish'd at last to find
Some faithful man to take the oversight
Of these his lands that we are on tonight;
And since he heard young Erwin's goodness told,
With earnest-worded tongues, by young and old,
And lov'd his father, who was every where
Belov'd for friendship true and dealings fair,
He set him bailiff over all the hands
He kept at work, and over all his lands.
This happen'd so, but how or where he knew
Young Linda first may best be known to you.