Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

I WRITE TO TELL by ANNA ELISABETH MATHIEU DE NOAILLES

Poem Explanation

First Line: I WRITE TO TELL, WHEN I HAVE CEASED TO BE
Last Line: AND HE GATHERS ME, OF ALL MOST FAVORED, TO HIS BREAST.
Subject(s): BOOKS; WRITING & WRITERS; READING;
I write to tell, when I have ceased to be
How life and pleasure have enraptured me,
That my book may murmur to future throngs
My love of nature's quiet and her songs.

Watching men's toil in houses and in fields,
I mark each day the change the season yields,
For water, earth, and eager flames that dart
Are nowhere beautiful as in my heart.

What I have seen and felt, that I have told,
From a spirit that finds the truth not too bold.
And I have burned, with love's most tender breath,
Still sometimes to be loved after my death,

So that some young man, reading this my word,
May feel his heart surprised and troubled, stirred
Until thoughts of his real lovers are suppressed
And he gathers me, of all most favored, to his breast.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net