Oh strange and sad that two may live beside Each other from their youth 'til they are old, And never hear the thoughts that go untold, Nor ever sense the inner, hidden tide Of dreams, ideals and impulses that hide Beneath familiar semblances that hold The windowless abode, aloof and cold, Where even love's admission is denied Beneath the silence of the listening years Of sharing life in long companionship, The passionate desire persists and grows To feel the sources of another's tears, To be as close, in soul, as lip on lip, As undivided as a river flows. They walk together on the wedded road United by the bond of custom's use, In intimate relationship whose dues Collects the ennui of passion's goad, And gambles love to pay for love's abode. But still each spirit its own way pursues, Untroubled by the body's clever ruse Of bribing human love by parenthood. The soul is lonely as a tragic dream, A stranger always; for it may not share The secret self that longs for something more Than life can give; and love is life's supreme Defeat. It seeks intensities not there, And finds the shadows that its longings wore. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FOUR SEASONS by PHILIP AYRES POLAND by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN TARQUIN AND THE AUGUR by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN VERSES TO -- --, ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR MARRIAGE by BERNARD BARTON TO VENETIAN ARTISTS by WILLIAM BLAKE ATTUNED by JULIEN AUGUSTE PELAGE BRIZEUX PHEIDIPPIDES by ROBERT BROWNING THE CLOWN by MARGARET E. BRUNER THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: A VISION by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |