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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHO'S THAT? by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHO'S THAT? WHO'S THAT?
Last Line: AND CHOKE, 'LEAD ON!'

Who's that? Who's that?. . .
Oh, only a leaf on the stone;
And the sigh of the air in the fire.
Yet it seemed, as I sat,
Came company -- not my own;
Stood there, with ardent gaze over dark, bowed shoulder thrown,
Till the dwindling flames leaped higher,
And showed fantasy flown.

Yet, though the cheat is clear --
From transient illusion grown;
In the vague of my mind those eyes
Still haunt me. One stands so near
I could take his hand, and be gone: --
No more in this house of dreams to sojourn aloof, alone:
Could sigh, with full heart, and arise,
And choke, 'Lead on!'



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