Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MINE OWN, by DAVID MACBETH MOIR Poet's Biography First Line: I need not token-flowers to tell Last Line: Until we meet again! Alternate Author Name(s): Delta Subject(s): Absence; Love; Separation; Isolation | ||||||||
I. I NEED not token-flowers to tell How deeply dear thou art, Still on mine ear thine accents dwell, Thy virtues in my heart; Thy beauty floats before mine eyes In soft celestial light, Alike at orient day's uprise, And pensive shut of night. II. Although afaralthough afar Yet art thou with me still, When evening's star, and morning's star, Gleams o'er the twilight hill; Thy beauty streams through all my dreams, The lone night-watches through; And cloudless skies recall thine eyes, The archangel's tearless blue. III. The sinking and the swelling heart Of fond yet fearful love, The bliss to meet, the pain to part, It hath been ours to prove; The deep embrace of blessedness, By absence made more blest; And separation's pangs, which press Its life-blood from the breast. IV. Memorials of that vanished day Of mingled bliss and woe, When from yon garden bowers away Time forced my steps to go; I prize each withered bloom and stalk, For that dear hand of thine, Which plucked them on our parting walk, And gifted them to mine. V. I see thee in thy beauty yet Upon the gravel stand, The glowing tints, red, blue, and jet, Fresh blooming in thy hand: And lo! all withered, wan, and dried, Before me here they lie, To tell that since I left thy side Long months have lingered by. VI. But think not months, however long, (For long all months must be, Theme of my blessing and my song! Which sever me from thee,) Shall e'er undo one tender tie Affection's fingers wove, Shall make less deep the daily sigh Which Absence owes to Love! VII. 'Twas Autumn,and the redbreast lulled With song the fading bowers, When for my hand thy fingers culled These wan and withered flowers: Fresh were they then; but, as I gaze The shrivelled blossoms o'er, The mountain-peaks are grey with haze, And gleams the snowy moor. VIII. The clouds of doubt between us rolled, In shadows passed the day, But, like a star, thy love consoled My spirit with its ray; For through the tempest and the night That beam was duly shed, To cherish with its steadfast light The hope which else had fled. IX. O hallowed, Heavenly to my view Is every gentle scene, Where thy fair foot hath brushed the dew From off the daisied green! Thy love, thy loveliness, thy worth, To me seem blessings given, To show my soul how things of earth Can raise its thoughts to Heaven! X. Farewell! thou shalt not be forgot, My beautiful, MINE OWN! O may the sorrows of our lot Bow down my head alone! And these dried flowers, which, given to me, Were moist with morning rain, Shall bloom of thee, and breathe of thee, Until we meet again! | 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 THIS UNMENTIONABLE FEELING by DAVID LEHMAN THE RUSTIC LAD'S LAMENT IN THE TOWN by DAVID MACBETH MOIR |
|