There thou goest, there thou goest,
In thy virgin robes arrayed,
Pale and drooping, for thou knowest,
What true heart thou hast betrayed.
Hark! thy bridal bells are ringing!
Do they waken happy tears?
Their exulting peal is flinging
Torture, discord in my ears.
Are they tuneful unto thine,
Fair and fickle Geraldine?
Now thou standest at the altar,
Where truth only should be heard;
Dost not only feel, and falter
To pronounce one fateful word?
No! I hear thy lips of beauty
Utter the degrading “yes,”
And the pastor, as in duty,
Stretches forth his hands to bless.
Can such compact be divine,
Fair, false-hearted Geraldine?
Of the tender vows we plighted
Thine were flung in empty air,
And my spirit is benighted
In the darkness of despair!
Gold has bought thee; will it bless thee?
Wilt thou find it ought but dross?
Will the hands that now caress thee
Pay thee for a true heart’s loss?
Time, perchance, will show the sign,
Fair and faithless Geraldine!
Go, and may all ill betide thee!
Go, to splendid misery led,
With that mindless worm beside thee,-
Him whom thou hast dared to wed!
May the ring that rounds thy finger
Seem a serpent to thy gaze,
And a sense of loneness linger
With thee all thy coming days;
Loveless, childless, may’st thou pine,
Fair, false-hearted Geraldine!
Frenzied words! I will not blame thee,
I whose soul thy beauty won;
Sense of duty overcame thee
In the wrong which thou hast done.
Thou has left a grief within me,—
Grief which time may yet repress,
But let sweet forgiveness win me
To desire thy happiness.
Whatsoe’er of pain be mine,
Peace be with thee, Geraldine.
(John Critchley Prince)
More Poetry from John Critchley Prince:
John Critchley Prince Poems based on Topics: Time, Fairness, Beauty, War & Peace, Happiness, Duty, Grief, Sign & Symbol, Sense & Perception, Pain, Gold- Winter Thoughts (John Critchley Prince Poems)
- Death Of A Factory Child (John Critchley Prince Poems)
- The Child And The Dew-Drops (in memory of a lost son). (John Critchley Prince Poems)
- Saint Christopher --- A Legend. (John Critchley Prince Poems)
- The Drummer's Death-Roll (John Critchley Prince Poems)
- Address At Ashton-Under-Lyne Literary Institute (John Critchley Prince Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Time Poems, War & Peace Poems, Fairness Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Beauty Poems, Pain Poems, Happiness Poems, Gold Poems, Grief Poems, Sign & Symbol Poems, Duty PoemsBased on Keywords: loneness, geraldine, false-hearted
- Belphegor Addressed To Miss De Chammelay (Jean de La Fontaine Poems)
- The Pastoral, Or Lyric Muse Of Scotland. Canto Second (Hector MacNeill Poems)
- An Oriental Apologue (James Russell Lowell Poems)
- 'Look at The Clock!' : Patty Morgan The Milkmaid's Story (Richard Harris Barham Poems)
- Rachel (John Lawson Stoddard Poems)