Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO M -, by ADAM MICKIEWICZ Poet's Biography First Line: Hence from my sight! - I'll obey at once Last Line: For there I left a portion of my soul. Subject(s): Love; Memory | ||||||||
Hence from my sight! -- I'll obey at once. Hence from my heart! -- I hear and understand. But hence from memory? Nay, I answer, nay! Our hearts won't listen to this last command! As the dim shadows that precede the night In deepening circles widen far and near, So when your image passes from my sight It leaves behind a memory all too dear. In every place -- wherever we became As one in joy and sorrow that bereft -- I will forever be by you the same, For there a portion of my soul is left. When pensively within some lonely room You sit and touch your harp's melodious string, You will, remembering, sigh in twilight's gloom, "I sang for him this song which now I sing." Or when beside the chess-board -- as you stand In danger of a checkmate -- you will say, "Thus stood the pieces underneath my hand When ended our last game -- that happy day!" When in the quiet pauses at the ball You, sitting, wait for music to begin, A vacant place beside you will recall How once I used to sit by you therein. When on the page that tells how fate's decree Parts happy lovers, you shall bend your eyes, You'll close the volume, sighing wearily, "'Tis but the record of our love likewise." But if the author after weary years Shall bid the current of their lives reblend, You'll sit in darkness, whispering through your tears "Why does not thus our story find an end?" When night's pale lightning darts with fitful flash O'er the old pear tree, rustling withered leaves, The while the screech-owl strikes your window-sash, You'll think it is my baffled soul that grieves. In every place -- in all remembered ways Where we have shared together bliss or dole -- Still will I haunt you through the lonely days, For there I left a portion of my soul. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MEMORY AS A HEARING AID by TONY HOAGLAND THE SAME QUESTION by JOHN HOLLANDER FORGET HOW TO REMEMBER HOW TO FORGET by JOHN HOLLANDER ON THAT SIDE by LAWRENCE JOSEPH MEMORY OF A PORCH by DONALD JUSTICE BEYOND THE HUNTING WOODS by DONALD JUSTICE FARIS, SELECTION by ADAM MICKIEWICZ |
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