Always and always there was full return For joy he gave, or joy he let her share: His love -- but never laughter, nor concern With thoughts that meet like pulses in the air. These were his golden key to win the world -- Too brightly burnished for his daily use; Moments with her -- house-busy, or sweetly curled Beside him -- were his rest, his mental truce. Now that he dreams of true companionship And knows how all men crave it, rich or poor, He sees it in her eyes and on her lip, Willing but walled away, a lost allure ... Sees that a wife must pay a man in kind -- For leaving her unmarried in the mind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MEMORIAL DAY by WILLIAM E. BROOKS SECOND OPINION by STEPHEN CUSHMAN THE IRISH RAPPAREES; A PEASANT BALLAD OF 1691 by CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY THE MOTHER'S HEART by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON BIRD CONVERSATIONS, SELECTION by FARID OD-DIN MOHAMMAD EBN EBRAHIM ATTAR MAY CELEBRANTS by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |