ALWAYS they greet you and say, "And what have you been @3doing?"@1 They do not ask What you have thought, How you wonder, naïvely grave, In the rich silences of your soul; Through what white flames you have passed, Scathed clean, feeling your loves and your hates; Nor of the dreams you have dreamed, All purple and gold and the glory of gray cloud heights. But they always ask What you have done And they know a thing or two. FRANCES. It's like this, Frances: Time was when girls and I were well acquainted And I would ask them: "And what have you been thinking? Through what candescent flames have you been passing? And what—omitting their interpretation—have been your dreams?" And they would tell me. So now I say: "And what have you been doing?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HIS FORSAKEN MISTRESS by ROBERT AYTON BALLADE OF BLUE CHINA by ANDREW LANG THE YOUNG MAY MOON by THOMAS MOORE MAUD MULLER by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER MAY'S LOVE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING TO THE SIGHING STREPHON by GEORGE GORDON BYRON MEN WERE DECEIVERS EVER by CALLIMACHUS |