Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MUNDI VICTIMA: 6, by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is all over, I am left alone Last Line: And dearest love works most the work of hate. Subject(s): Hate; Love - Loss Of | ||||||||
It is all over, I am left alone. O visiting ghost, these eyes have never known So cold, calm, tearless, proud, dispassionate, Desperate, desolate, importunate, Whose wrong denied you life, and rent from me Your love, to be this ghost of memory? Not yours, though you have left me; and not mine, Though I have bade you leave me: the divine Right of the world's injustice, and that old Tyranny of dumb, rooted things, which hold The hearts of men in a hard bondage. Yet, Not for the world's sake, let me not forget That, in the world's eyes, I have done you wrong. And since to the world's judgment must belong The saving and damnation of all souls Whom that usurped sovereignty controls, Indeed I have done you wrong. I loved you more Than your own soul. I had not loved before, And love possessed me, fixed my wandering mind, And drove me onward, heedless, deaf, and blind, Wrapt in the fiery whirlwind, passion, drove Life to annihilation upon love. I had not loved before: I had been love's lord, I had delicately feasted at the board Where Folly's guests luxuriously admire Each dainty waiting handmaiden desire; Where, when the feast is over, choice is free. I had feasted long, I had chosen riotously, Kisses, and roses, and warm scented wine, I had bound my forehead with the tangled vine, I had bound about my heart the tangled hair Of laughing light loves; I had found love fair, Of delicate aspect, and free from guile, And I had bartered kisses for a smile, And my vine-wreath for poppies twined for sleep, And of a sleepy bowl I had drunk deep, And, dreaming, never dreamed that hearts could ache For over-much desire, or for love's sake. And then you came. The rose of yesterday Petal by petal drooped, withering away, And all my bright flowers drooped, withering dead, And the vine-wreath had fallen from my head, And the wine-red poppies dripped to earth, and spilled The bowl of sleep, and all the air was filled, As with the fluttering voices of soft doves, With lamentations of the little loves. Then a new life was born of the last breath Of that which never lived; I knew that death Which love is, ere it is eternity. I knew that my desire had come to me, And then I knew that love, I had thought so fair, Is terrible of aspect, and heavy care Follows the feet of love where'er he goes, And lovers' hearts, because of many woes, Ache sorer than all hearts most desolate, And dearest love works most the work of hate. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ROSE AND MURRAY by CONRAD AIKEN THOUGH WE NO LONGER POSSESS IT by MARK JARMAN THE GLORY OF THE DAY WAS IN HER FACE by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON LOVE COME AND GONE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE CHAMBER MUSIC: 33 by JAMES JOYCE A SCOTCH SONG by JOANNA BAILLIE NERVES by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS |
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