Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LOVE (1) by JOHN GALSWORTHY

First Line: O LOVE! - THAT LOVE WHICH COMES SO STEALTHILY
Last Line: THAN WE, ARE NOT MORE DESOLATE AND SAD!
Subject(s): LOVE;

O LOVE! -- that love which comes so stealthily,
And takes us up, and twists us as it will --
What fever'd hours of agony 'twill bring!
How oft we wake and cry: "God set me free
Of love -- to never love again!" And still
We fall, and clutch it by the knees, and cling
And press our lips -- and so, once more are glad!

And if it go, or if it never come,
Through what a grieving wilderness of pain
We travel on! In prisons stripped of light
We blindly grope, and wander without home.
The friendless winds that sweep across the plain --
The beggars meeting us at silent night --
Than we, are not more desolate and sad!



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