Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “Bridal Ballad” (Text-03b), Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia, PA), vol. XXI, whole no. 1044, July 31, 1837, p. 1, col. 1


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[page 1, col. 1, continued:]

Written for the Saturday Evening Post.

Ballad.

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BY EDGAR A. POE.

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The ring is on my hand,

And the wreath is on my brow;

Satins and jewels grand

Are all at my command,

And I am happy now.

He has loved me long and well,

But, when he breathed his vow,

I felt my bosom swell,

For the words rang like a knell,

And the voice seemed his who fell

In the battle down the dell,

And who is happy now.

But he spoke to re-asure me,

And he kissed my pallid brow,

While a reverie came o’re me,

And to the church-yard bore me,

And I sighed to him before me,

Thinking him dead D’Elormie,

“Oh, I am happy now!”

It was spoken — it was spoken —

Quick they registered the vow;

And though my faith be broken,

And though my heart be broken

Behold the golden token

That proves me happy now.

Would God I could awaken!

For I dream, I know not how,

And my soul is sorely shaken

Lest an evil step be taken,

And the dead who is forsaken

May not be happy now.


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Notes:

In a letter to L. J. Cist, dated September 18, 1841, Poe complained that he sent this poem to the Post requesting the acknowledgement as being reprinted from the Southern Literary Messenger, a request that was ignored.

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[S:1 - SEP, 1841 (high-quality color scan, HRCL)] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Bridal Ballad (Text-03b)