Emily Brontë - The Two Children lyrics

Part I Heavy hangs the raindrop From the burdened spray; Heavy broods the damp mist On Uplands far away; Heavy looms the dull sky, Heavy rolls the sea - And heavy beats the young heart Beneath that lonely Tree - Never has a blue streak Cleft the clouds since morn - Never has his grim Fate Smiled since he was born - Frowning on the infant, Shadowing childhood's joy; Guardian angel knows not That melancholy boy. Day is pa**ing swiftly Its sad and sombre prime; Youth is fast invading Sterner manhood's time - All the flowers are praying For sun before they close, And he prays too, unknowing, That sunless human rose! Blossoms, that the westwind Has never wooed to blow, Scentless are your petals, Your dew as cold as snow - Soul, where kindred kindness No early promise woke, Barren is your beauty As weed upon the rock - Wither, Brothers, wither, You were vainly given - Earth reserves no blessing For the unblessed of Heaven! Part II Child of Delight! with sunbright hair And seablue, sea-deep eyes; Spirit of Bliss, what brings thee here, Beneath these sullen skies? Thou shouldest live in eternal spring, Where endless day is never dim; Why, seraph, has thy erring wing Borne thee down to weep with him? 'Ah, not from heaven am I descended, And I do not come to mingle tears; But sweet is day though with shadows blended; And, though clouded, sweet are youthful years - I, the image of light and gladness, Saw and pitied that mournful boy; And I swore to take his gloomy sadness, And give to him my beamy joy - 'Heavy and dark the night is closing; Heavy and dark may its biding be; Better for all from grief reposing, And better for all who watch like me - 'Guardian angel, he lacks no longer; Evil fortune he need not fear; Fate is strong–but Love is stronger, And more unsleeping than angel's care. (May 28, 1845) Emily's name for these two poems in the Gondal saga was 'A. E. and R. C'; it was Charlotte who gave them this title. The image of two children appears a number of times in Emily Brontë's poetry as well as in her novel. In this poem, the 'melancholy boy' resembles Heathcliff and Hareton, while the 'Child of Delight! with sunbright hair' resembles Catherine Earnshaw and Cathy Linton; the poem hints that they are to redeem the 'melancholy boy.' The dark-light, male-female pair appears in the novel and in the Gondal saga as well.