Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ADDRESS TO HER HUSBAND, by MEHETABEL (WESLEY) WRIGHT First Line: The ardent lover cannot find Last Line: To laugh when hetty is no more. Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives | ||||||||
THE ardent lover cannot find A coldness in his fair unkind. But blaming what he cannot hate, He mildly chides the dear ingrate; And though despairing of relief, In soft complaining vents his grief. Then what should hinder but that I, Impatient of my wrongs, may try, By saddest softest strains, to move My wedded, latest, dearest love, To throw his cold neglect aside, And cheer once more his injured bride! O thou, whom sacred rites designed My guide, and husband ever kind, My sovereign master, best of friends, On whom my earthly bliss depends; If e'er thou didst in Hetty see Aught fair, or good, or dear to thee, If gentle speech can ever move The cold remains of former love, Turn thee at last -- my bosom case, Or tell me why I cease to please. Is it because revolving years, Heart-breaking sighs, and fruitless tears, Have quite deprived this form of mine Of all that once thou fanciedst fine? Ah no! what once allured thy sight Is still in its meridian height. These eyes their usual lustre show, When uneclipsed by flowing woe. Old age and wrinkles in this face As yet could never find a place: A youthful grace informs these lines, Where still the purple current shines; Unless, by thy ungentle art, It flies to aid my wretched heart: Nor does this slighted bosom show The thousand hours it spends in woe. Or is it that, oppressed with care, I stun with loud complaints thine ear, And make thy home, for quiet meant, The seat of noise and discontent? Ah no! those ears were ever free From matrimonial melody: For though thine absence I lament When half the lonely night is spent, Yet when the watch or early morn Has brought me hopes of thy return, I oft have wiped these watchful eyes, Concealed my cares, and curbed my sighs, In spite of grief, to let thee see I wore an endless smile for thee. Had I not practised every art T' oblige, divert, and cheer thy heart, To make me pleasing in thine eyes, And turn thy house to paradise; I had not asked, 'Why dost thou shun These faithful arms, and eager run To some obscure, unclean retreat, With fiends incarnate glad to meet, The vile companions of thy mirth, The scum and refuse of the earth; Who, when inspired by beer, can grin At witless oaths and jests obscene, Till the most learned of the throng Begins a tale of ten hours long; While thou in raptures with stretched jaws Crownest each joke with loud applause?' Deprived of freedom, health, and ease, And rivalled by such things as these, This latest effort will I try, Or to regain thy heart, or die. Soft as I am, I'll make thee see I will not brook contempt from thee! Then quit the shuffling doubtful sense, Nor hold me longer in suspense; Unkind, ungrateful, as thou art, Say, must I ne'er regain thy heart? Must all attempts to please thee prove Unable to regain thy love? If so, by truth itself I swear, The sad reverse I cannot bear; No rest, no pleasure, will I see; My whole of bliss is lost with thee! I'll give all thoughts of patience o'er (A gift I never lost before); Indulge at once my rage and grief, Mourn obstinate, disdain relief, And call that wretch my mortal foe, Who tries to mitigate my woe; Till life, on terms severe as these, Shall, ebbing, leave my heart at ease; To thee thy liberty restore To laugh when Hetty is no more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BLESSING FOR A WEDDING by JANE HIRSHFIELD A SUITE FOR MARRIAGE by DAVID IGNATOW ADVICE TO HER SON ON MARRIAGE by MARY BARBER THE RABBI'S SON-IN-LAW by SABINE BARING-GOULD KISSING AGAIN by DORIANNE LAUX A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV AN EPITAPH UPON HERSELF by MEHETABEL (WESLEY) WRIGHT TO AN INFANT EXPIRING THE SECOND DAY OF ITS BIRTH by MEHETABEL (WESLEY) WRIGHT |
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