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SONG FROM “PRINCESS LOINTAINE,”

                        By Edmond Rostand.

It is in truth a common part
On fair or dark to set your heart,
    And sit and sigh your love throughout the day.
There is in love no strain or stress
With dark or fair at hand to bless,—
    But I—I love the Princess Faraway.

To hold your love long staunch and true
Is no such wondrous deed for you
    Whose lips may touch your loved one’s silken dress,
Whose hand perchance has sometimes known
Her fingers linger in your own,—
    But I—I love the Faraway Princess.

But ’tis a thing apart to learn
To love without sweet love’s return,
    To love for ever with no stint or stay,
To love in sorrow and in pain,
More purely, just because in vain,—
    And so—I love the Princess Faraway.

And ’tis a thing apart, Supreme,
To love when one can hardly dream,
    Invent, imagine all her loveliness,
Dreams are the glory of the earth—
Life without dreams, what is it worth?
    And so—I love the Faraway Princess.

                                                                        C.H.

MLA citation:

C.H., trans. “Song From Princesse Lointaine,” by Edmond Rostand. The Green Sheaf, No. 4, 1903, p. 10. Green Sheaf Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2022. https://1890s.ca/GSV4-rostand-princess/