Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EXILE by HAROLD HART CRANE

Poet Analysis

First Line: MY HANDS HAVE NOT TOUCHED PLEASURE SINCE YOUR HANDS
Last Line: SET IN THE TRYST-RING HAS BUT WORN MORE BRIGHT.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; LOVE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;
@3(after the Chinese)@1

My hands have not touched pleasure since your hands, --
No, -- nor my lips freed laughter since 'farewell',
And with the day, distance again expands
Voiceless between us, as an uncoiled shell.

Yet love endures, though starving and alone.
A dove's wings cling about my heart each night
With surging gentleness, and the blue stone
Set in the tryst-ring has but worn more bright.



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