Anne Brontë

(Any misspellings are those of the Brontës themselves.)

O I am Very Weary (28 August 1840)

[Written in her early days as governess at the Robinsons' while very homesick and finding refuge in her poems]

O! I am very weary
Though tears no longer flow
My eyes are tired of weeping
My heart is sick of woe

My life is very lonely
My days pass heavily
I'm weary of repining
Wilt thou not come to me?

O! didst thou know my longings
For thee from day to day
My hopes so often blighted
Thou wouldst not thus delay.

Verses by Lady Geralda (c. Christmas 1836)

[A Gondal poem about an orphan girl who mourns the fact that nature no longer eases her troubled spirit.]

Why, when I hear the stormy breath
Of the wild winter wind
Rushing o'er the mountain heath,
Does sadness fill my mind?

For long ago I loved to lie
Upon the pathless moor,
And hear the wild wind rushing by
With never ceasing roar;

Its sound was music then to me;
Its wild and lofty voice
Made my heart beat exultingly
And my whole soul rejoice.

But now, how different is the sound?
It takes another tone,
And howls along the barren ground
With melancholy moan.

In Memory of a Happy Day in February (February - November 1842)

[Begun while she was governess at Thorpe Green, finished while she was at home on vacation.]

Blessed be Thou for all the Joy
My soul has felt today!
O let its memory stay with me
And never pass away! 

I knew there was a God on high
By whom all things were made.
I saw his wisdom and his power
In all his works desplayed

But most through out the moral world
I saw his glory shine
I saw his wisdom infinite
His mercy all devine.
  
Deep secrets of his providence
In darkness long concealed
Were brought to my delighted eyes
And graciously revealed.