History & Politics
Taylor's Song
Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer (1915) · From Poems and Songs (1870; Palmer 1915)
For joys the hours of earth bestow
With sorrow thou must pay.
Though many follow close, yet know,
They're loaned but for a day.
With sighing in thy laughter's stead
Shall come a time of grief,
The load of usury bow thy head,
With loss of thy belief.
Mary Anne, Mary Anne,
Mary Anne, Mary Anne,
Hadst thou not smiled upon me, thou,
I were not weeping now.
May God help him who never can
Give only half his soul;
The time comes surely for that man
To take the sorrow whole.
May God help him who was so glad,
That he cannot forget,
Help him who lost the all he had,
But not his reason yet.
Mary Anne, Mary Anne,
Mary Anne, Mary Anne,
The flowers that my life had grown,
Died out when thou went gone.
Codex Note
From Maria Stuart
Cite this poem
MLA
Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne. “Taylor's Song.” Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bjornson/56/.
Chicago
Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne. “Taylor's Song.” Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bjornson/56/.
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