Faint Heart

Faint Heart

Faint heart and tongue-tied moments Never won fair maid; Yours was one among the thousands Of hearts that she had played.

Deep love so unrequited Will fill a heart with pain And that heart that has been slighted May never love again.

Chorus In the vast lands of the lonely Each tree is sparse and spare The leaves that fall are tearful Washed by frequent prayer. On each branch a blackbird singing To the no one waiting there And the heartwood’s hard and ringing And grained with deep despair.

Faint heart goes on for ever Diffident, confused; From that sadness it can’t sever When it knows it has been used.

Till it finds its doppleganger In another lonely heart From that pain they will endeavour To make a different start.

Chorus For hearts that knew deep pain Can love with deepest care; They know the depths of sorrow The seas of deep despair. And their love, once unrequited, The sad price they had paid — O faint heart once so benighted Will come to win fair maid.

— © Frank Callery, January 19th, 2017.