PUSH off the clinging arms! There is only death in this strangle-hold; even if we call it love... The mother who cares too much for her child, Or the husband for his wife, They are keeping sheltered and confined what should be free and hardy, toughened for battle! Nay, there is no real love in this binding: It is more often a sense of waste and futility, And a fierce bickering and quarreling... Shake free! Know love in freedom: know love in separation: Give the soul its own self to support it, and take off your arms! Do honor to the divinity of another human being By trusting its power to go alone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI: 6. NIGHT LANDING by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER MEMORIAL TO D.C.: 5. ELEGY by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY FANCIES AT NAVESINK: 2 by WALT WHITMAN HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 7 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH SPRING FANTASIES: 3. THE SYMBOL by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON LINES WRITTEN ON VISITING A SCENE IN ARGYLESHIRE by THOMAS CAMPBELL |