Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ASSIGNATION, by JOHN FREEMAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ASSIGNATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He said he would meet her but she saw him / not
Last Line: And tongue-tied shame that mad excuses muttered.
Subject(s): Affliction; Love - Complaints; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations


HE said he would meet her but she saw him not.
Under the alders waiting where they hung
Harsh dusty boughs as a hound lolls its tongue
Near unreached waters when the noon is hot,
She waited:—No, he never yet forgot!
And now with such sore reason why she clung
In new necessity, she felt her young
Expectancy rooted her in this spot.

—If he came not, and never came again!
Still rooted there her love shook like sere leaves,
Then at the last into the road dust fluttered.
He came not but fear came, linked fast with pain,
And the grim certitude that never deceives,
And tongue-tied shame that mad excuses muttered.





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