The speaker is mourning a time when love felt close, magical, and steadying. That love gave peace to a broken life, and the speaker believed its comfort would never fail. Now the relationship has cooled or slipped out of reach, and the speaker burns for the old sweetness like a dead miser still aching for buried treasure. The mood is heavy with regret and self-blame, especially in the phrase “sodden sinning,” as if some personal failure helped cause the distance. Faith has weakened, so the speaker meets the beloved shyly, like a stranger, though joy should be natural. Even in sorrow, the speaker insists that the lover’s tenderness is “one beautiful thing.” By the end, grief turns into a direct, almost songlike plea: stop staying away in solitude and come back to hold and cheer me.
The Sad Lover — Summary
I WEEP for happy-sweet days When your love was near me Strong in its magical ways, To hold and cheer me!
To my sad broken life, Your love had given, For endless, hopeless strife, Peace of high Heaven.
I thought your charmed cure Could have no ending. And shall no spell endure Of your dear befriending?
As a dead miser yearns For earth-stored treasure, So fiercely my soul burns For old sweet pleasure
Chilled by the bitter power Of sodden sinning, I find no splendid hour As at love's beginning.
Now that my faith is weak, Fearful I meet you! Like a shy stranger speak. When joy should greet you.
I deep in sorrow sing, My passion proving, " There is one beautiful thing, Your tender loving."
Weep! Weep! for happy-sweet days, When your love was near me. Come from your solitary ways. To hold and cheer me.