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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO MY WIFE ON HER BIRTHDAY; SONNET by JOHN GODFREY SAXE

First Line: WHAT! --TY YEARS? -- I NEVER COULD HAVE GUESSED IT
Last Line: "HAVE SPENT THEIR LIFE, AND, ""DYING, MADE NO SIGN!"
Subject(s): BIRTHDAYS; LOVE - MARITAL; WEDDED LOVE; MARRIAGE - LOVE;

WHAT! -- ty years? -- I never could have guessed it
By any token writ upon your brow,
Or other test of Time, -- had you not now,
Just to surprise me, foolishly confessed it.
Well, on your word, of course, I must receive it;
Although (to say the truth) it is, indeed,
As proselytes sometimes accept a creed,
While in their hearts they really don't believe it!
While all around is changed, no change appears,
My darling Sophie, to these eyes of mine,
In aught of thee that I have deemed divine,
To mark the number of the vanished years, --
The kindly years that on that face of thine
Have spent their life, and, "dying, made no sign!"



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