Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EXILE, by ARTHUR WILLIAM EDGAR O'SHAUGHNESSY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A common folk I walk among Last Line: When this sad pilgrimage is done. Alternate Author Name(s): O'shaughnessy, Arthur W. E. Subject(s): Love - Loss Of; Secrets; Solitude; Loneliness | ||||||||
A common folk I walk among; I speak dull things in their own tongue: But all the while within I hear A song I do not sing for fear How sweet, how different a thing! And when I come where none are near I open all my heart and sing. I am made one with these indeed, And give them all the love they need Such love as they would have of me: But in my heartah, let it be! I think of it when none is nigh. There is a love they shall not see; For it I live, for it will die. And oft-times, though I share their joys, And seem to praise them with my voice, Do I not celebrate my own, Ay, down in some far inward zone Of thoughts in which they have no part? Do I not feelah, quite alone With all the secret of my heart? O when the shroud of night is spread On these, as Death is on the dead, So that no sight of them shall mar The blessed rapture of a star Then I draw forth those thoughts at will; And like the stars those bright thoughts are; And boundless seems the heart they fill: For every one is as a link; And I enchain them as I think; Till present and remembered bliss, And better, worlds on after this, I haveled on from each to each Athwart the limitless abyss In some surpassing sphere I reach. I draw a veil across my face Before I come back to the place And dull obscurity of these; I hide my face, and no man sees; I learn to smile a lighter smile, And change, and look just what they please. It is but for a little while. I go with them; and in their sight I would not scorn their little light, Nor mock the things they hold divine; But when I kneel before the shrine Of some base deity of theirs, I pray all inwardly to mine, And send my soul up with my prayers: For Iah, to myself I say I have a heaven though far away; And there my Love went long ago, With all the things my heart loves so; And there my songs fly, every one: And I shall find them there, I know, When this sad pilgrimage is done. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA THE HONEY BEAR by EILEEN MYLES |
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