Lord Byron and Cat Stevens

Perusing outside my window, I beheld the dew dangling on the tip of the leaves of the tree outside my window of the room I am staying in the damp, but gorgeous, Portland. Quite why Byron's impossibly beautiful poem "When We Two Parted" came to me is obvious for those familiar with it:

The dew of the morning sank chill on my brow / it felt like the warning of what I feel now

I hadn't read that particular poem for a long time, even though it is one of my favorite pieces of literature. In fact, the last time I read it was nearly three years ago when I recited that poem - in a flash of sappy romanticism - to my then new girlfriend. I hold the poem so high up on a pedestal that I even attempted to put music to it. A futile effort, as Byron's words flow like the most soothing tune every imagined.

My emotional and mental state brought back the poem and I silently recited it while the little droplet was hanging by its minuscule atomic thread. As I finished the last verse, the butterflies in my stomach were in a frenzy unlike any other time, except for my virginal reading of it.

If I should meet thee after long years / how should I greet thee? With silence and tears.

What followed was even stranger as my thought process proceeded to Cat Stevens' 1970 single "Lady D'Arbanville" - the most romantic necrophiliac elegy ever. The beauty of the simple strumming of the acoustic guitar is reason enough to lose yourself in Stevens' angelic voice. His delivery of this seemingly unrequited love is very powerful and poignant. However, the artist suddenly reveals the situation in a fashion that would make Byron weep:

I loved you my lady, though in your grave you lie / I'll always be with you, this rose will never die, this rose will never die

If there is another example of such elegant poetry in popular music, I would like to experience it.

Both poems describe, with varying methods, a love that was so powerful that for unforeseen circumstances beyond the orators' control, it will never be reenacted. I, for my own sake, wish never to have to say these lines in real life. Ever.