The Maiden’s Sorrow

Author: William Cullen Bryant  | Date: 1842

THE MAIDEN’S SORROW

Seven long years has the desert rain

Dropped on the clods that hide thy face;

Seven long years of sorrow and pain

I have though of thy burial-place;

Thought of thy fate in the distant West,

Dying with none that loved thee near,

They who flung the earth on thy breast

Turned from the spot without a tear.

There, I think, on that lonely grave,

Violets spring in the soft May shower;

There, in the summer breezes, wave

Crimson phlox and moccasin-flower.

There the turtles alight, and there

Feeds with her fawn the timid doe;

There, when the winter woods are bare,

Walks the wolf on the crackling snow.

Soon wilt thou wipe my tears away;

All my task upon earth is done;

My Poor father, old and gray,

Slumbers beneath the churchyard stone.

In the dreams of my lonely bed,

Ever thy form before me seems,

All night long I talk with the dead,

All day long I think of my dreams.

This deep wound that bleeds and aches,

This long pain, a sleepless pain-

When the Father my spirit takes,

I shall feel it no more again.

Related Resources

None available for this document.

Download Options


Title: The Maiden’s Sorrow

Select an option:

*Note: A download may not start for up to 60 seconds.

Email Options


Title: The Maiden’s Sorrow

Select an option:

Email addres:

*Note: It may take up to 60 seconds for for the email to be generated.

Chicago: William Cullen Bryant, The Maiden’s Sorrow Original Sources, accessed March 29, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=XWU3N4LN24G1N57.

MLA: Bryant, William Cullen. The Maiden’s Sorrow, Original Sources. 29 Mar. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=XWU3N4LN24G1N57.

Harvard: Bryant, WC, The Maiden’s Sorrow. Original Sources, retrieved 29 March 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=XWU3N4LN24G1N57.