Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE'S HOUSE, by JOHN DRINKWATER



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE'S HOUSE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I know not how these men or those may take
Last Line: Leans down to me and tells me everything.
Subject(s): Houses; Love - Nature Of


I

I KNOW not how these men or those may take
Their first glad measure of love's character,
Or whether one should let the summer make
Love's festival, and one the falling year.

I only know that in my prime of days
When my young branches came to blossoming,
You were the sign that loosed my lips in praise,
You were the zeal that governed all my spring.

II

In prudent counsel many gathered near,
Forewarning us of deft and secret snares
That are love's use. We heard them as we hear
The ticking of a clock upon the stairs.

The troops of reason, careful to persuade,
Blackened love's name, but love was more than these,
For we had wills to venture unafraid
The trouble of unnavigable seas.

III

Their word was but a barren seed that lies
Undrawn of the sun's health and undesired,
Because the habit of their hearts was wise,
Because the wisdom of their tongues was tired.

For in the smother of contentious pride,
And in the fear of each tumultuous mood,
Our love has kept serenely fortified
And unusurped one stedfast solitude.

IV

Dark words, and hasty humours of the blood
Have come to us and made no longer stay
Than footprints of a bird upon the mud
That in an hour the tide will take away.

But not March weather over ploughlands blown,
Nor cresses green upon their gravel bed,
Are beautiful with the clean rigour grown
Of quiet thought our love has piloted.

V

I sit before the hearths of many men,
When speech goes gladly, eager to withhold
No word at all, yet when I pass again
The last of words is captive and untold.

We talk together in love's house, and there
No thought but seeks what counsel you may give,
And every secret trouble from its lair
Comes to your hand, no longer fugitive.

VI

I woo the world, with burning will to be
Delighted in all fortune it may find,
And still the strident dogs of jealousy
Go mocking down the tunnels of my mind.

Only for you my contemplation goes
Clean as a god's, undarkened of pretence,
Most happy when your garner overflows,
Achieving in your prosperous diligence.

VII

When from the dusty corners of my brain
Comes limping some ungainly word or deed,
I know not if my dearest friend's disdain
Be durable or brief, spent husk or seed.

But your rebuke and that poor fault of mine
Go straitly outcast, and we close the door,
And I, no promise asking and no sign,
Stand blameless in love's presence as before.

VIII

A beggar in the ditch, I stand and call
My questions out upon the queer parade
Of folk that hurry by, and one and all
Go down the road with never answer made.

I do not question love. I am a lord
High at love's table, and the vigilant king,
Unquestioned, from the hubbub at the board
Leans down to me and tells me everything.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net