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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONGS IN ABSENCE: 11 by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH

Poet Analysis

First Line: AM I WITH YOU, OR YOU WITH ME?
Last Line: THE DWELLING OF A PURER LOVE.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; LOVE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;

AM I with you, or you with me?
Or in some blessed place above,
Where neither lands divide nor sea,
Are we united in our love?

Oft while in longing here I lie,
That wasting ever still endures;
My soul out from me seems to fly,
And half-way, somewhere, meet with yours.

Somewhere -- but where I cannot guess --
Beyond, may be, the bound of space,
The liberated spirits press
And meet, bless heaven, and embrace.

It seems not either here nor there,
Somewhere between us up above,
A region of a clearer air,
The dwelling of a purer love.



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