SD437. Autograph Manuscript by Henry Trant
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 332 (in part).
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[17 June 1822] [1]
While here forlorn & lost I tread
With fainting steps & slow
Thro walks unmeasurably spread
And lengthening as I go
Bereft of thy endearing smile [2]
I cry “oh wretched me.[”]
Can Number four so move my bile
& can I not move thee.
No hawk was ere to falconer dear
As thou to Henrys breast
But thou than hawk much more severe
Him cruelly distressed—
“A falconer Henry is” says Prior
The bard did rightly tell
But ah my woes can reach no higher
I’ve lost my falconers bell [3]
HT
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
1. This poem was written on an integral page of letter 158, which was dated 17 June 1822.
2. Written above a line not cancelled: “Why can I win no tender smile.”
3. Underlined three times.
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