Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO MY FRIENDS, WHO RIDICULED A TENDER LEAVE-TAKING, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Laugh, my friends, and without blame Last Line: Quick, thy tablets, memory! Variant Title(s): A Memory-picture Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation | ||||||||
LAUGH, my Friends, and without blame Lightly quit what lightly came: Rich to-morrow as to-day Spend as madly as you may. I, with little land to stir, Am the exacter labourer. Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! But my Youth reminds me--'Thou Hast liv'd light as these live now: As these are, thou too wert such: Much hast had, hast squander'd much.' Fortune's now less frequent heir, Ah! I husband what's grown rare. Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Young, I said: 'A face is gone If too hotly mus'd upon: And our best impressions are Those that do themselves repair.' Many a face I then let by, Ah! is faded utterly. Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Marguerite says: 'As last year went, So the coming year'll be spent: Some day next year, I shall be, Entering heedless, kiss'd by thee.' Ah! I hope--yet, once away, What may chain us, who can say? Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Paint that lilac kerchief, bound Her soft face, her hair around: Tied under the archest chin Mockery ever ambush'd in. Let the fluttering fringes streak All her pale, sweet-rounded cheek. Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Paint that figure's pliant grace As she towards me lean'd her face, Half refus'd and half resign'd, Murmuring, 'Art thou still unkind?' Many a broken promise then Was new made--to break again. Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! Paint those eyes, so blue, so kind, Eager tell-tales of her mind: Paint, with their impetuous stress Of inquiring tenderness, Those frank eyes, where deep doth lie An angelic gravity. Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! What, my Friends, these feeble lines Show, you say, my love declines? To paint ill as I have done, Proves forgetfulness begun? Time's gay minions, pleas'd you see, Time, your master, governs me. Pleas'd, you mock the fruitless cry 'Quick, thy tablets, Memory!' Ah! too true. Time's current strong Leaves us true to nothing long. Yet, if little stays with man, Ah! retain we all we can! If the clear impression dies, Ah! the dim remembrance prize! Ere the parting hour go by, Quick, thy tablets, Memory! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EVENING OF THE MIND by DONALD JUSTICE CHRISTMAS AWAY FROM HOME by JANE KENYON THE PROBLEM by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES WHEN A WOMAN LOVES A MAN by DAVID LEHMAN |
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