I closed the door behind me. "Now, she needs you. Come!" Said my rasping voice. "So! You find me!" Said his great eyes, glaring dumb. ... "She has said it. If you but reach to her One reluctant hand She is yours!" ... "Then, take this speech to her— And understand!" "I have found this life no garden," Said his voice in the gloom. "Taunts that scar and hates that harden; Not a whit of sun or bloom. Why then should I go back to her For love long dead? Though she chirrup all hearts in a pack to her— Not mine!" he said. "Young man, young man so froward With your easy pity, Think you that I turned the coward When her whimsies took the city? But, when twisting that or this to her Approved design, Could I ogle and blow a kiss to her, With love like mine? "Now a selfish and pleasant liver, Am @3I@1 that—@3I?@1 Love's a deep eternal river Or the shallows soon run dry. Though dreams maunder, though flesh burn to her, For her own soul's sake There is no way to return to her After our mistake! "Now at ease do I drift and dawdle, Quaff life free and glad? But love's wine as a sick heart's caudle— There's the draught that drives men mad! And @3my@1 whims, and what were they to her? Like as I thought hers No doubt! ... So I bade good-day to her. @3Call them off, the curs!"@1 That was all. The bitter cry of it! As I left at last I pondered, "These great hearts die of it, Man or woman, so miscast." Yet—his chance—and 'twas naught he sought of her; So my heart sang free To the yearning, burning thought of her, Where she waited—me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DILIGENCE IS TO MAGIC AS PROGRESS IS TO FLIGHT by MARIANNE MOORE TIRED TIM by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE TO WORDSWORTH by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS THE LONG WHITE SEAM by JEAN INGELOW SONNET: ADDRESSED TO HAYDON (1) by JOHN KEATS MY SOLITUDE by JAMES R. AGGELES TO HIMSELF; AN ODE by ANACREON ON THE DISCOVERIES OF CAPTAIN LEWIS [JANUARY 14, 1807] by JOEL BARLOW |