What it is to breathe and live without life; How to be pale with anguish, red with fear; T' have peace abroad, and nought within but strife; Wish to be present, and yet shun t' appear; How to be bold far off, and bashful near; How to think much, and have no words to speak; To crave redress, yet hold affliction dear; To have affection strong, a body weak; Never to find, and evermore to seek, And seek that which I dare not hope to find; T' affect this life, and yet this life disleeke; Grateful t' another, to myself unkind. This cruel knowledge of these contraries, Delia, my heart hath learned out of those eyes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANSWER TO MASTER WITHER'S SONG, 'SHALL I, WASTING IN DESPAIR?' by BEN JONSON THE BOBBIN-WINDER by JOSEPHINE ELIZABETH ARCHER A NAMELESS EPITAPH (2) by MATTHEW ARNOLD APRIL IN VERMONT by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY THE LAST DESIRE by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE LINES ON A FRIEND WHO DIED OF A FRENZY FEVER ... CALUMINOUS REPORTS by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AN EPISTLE: ADDRESSED TO SIR THOMAS HAMNER (2) by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) |