But I, grown fatuous in my love and lore -- Love that I thought was round her as a buoy, Lore that I thought was cunning to destroy Disease and doom -- toiled with her more and more: My skill at mind should train the wild away, The wild and eery, from that brow I kissed, Till she should grow like girls of everyday Through me (triumphant lover-alienist!), -- Thus to establish her in selfhood strong Against disasters I was fearsome of -- Pain, slander, grief, and all gaunt broods of Life, -- Thus, also, to establish her as wife -- As apt in judgment as she was in song, As fixed in purpose as she was in love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BRIDGE: PROEM. TO BROOKLYN BRIDGE by HAROLD HART CRANE WHEN THE SULTAN GOES TO ISPAHAN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A DISAPPOINTMENT by JOANNA BAILLIE ON THE DEITY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD OLD WOMAN FAIRY by MARY BRODINE ARS GUBERNANDI by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB WRITTEN TO GAALDINE PRISON CAVES TO A.G.A. by EMILY JANE BRONTE |