Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SELF AND LIFE, by MARY ANN EVANS Poet's Biography First Line: Changeful comrade, life of mine Last Line: Life is justified by love. Alternate Author Name(s): Eliot, George; Cross, Marian Lewes; Evans, Marian; Ann, Mary Subject(s): Experience; Life; Love; Self | ||||||||
Self. CHANGEFUL comrade, Life of mine Before we two must part, I will tell thee, thou shalt say, What thou hast been and art. Ere I lose my hold of thee Justify thyself to me. Life. I was thy warmth upon thy mother's knee When light and love within her eyes were one; We laughed together by the laurel-tree, Culling warm daisies 'neath the sloping sun; We heard the chickens' lazy croon, Where the trellised woodbines grew, And all the summer afternoon Mystic gladness o'er thee threw. Was it person? Was it thing? Was it touch or whispering? It was bliss and it was I: Bliss was what thou knew'st me by. Self. Soon I knew thee more by Fear And sense of what was not, Haunting all I held most dear; I had a double lot: Ardor, cheated with alloy, Wept the more for dreams of joy. Life. Remember how thy ardor's magic sense Made poor things rich to thee and small things great; How hearth and garden, field and bushy fence, Were thy own eager love incorporate; And how the solemn, splendid Past O'er thy early widened earth Made grandeur, as on sunset cast Dark elms near take mighty girth. Hands and feet were tiny still When we knew the historic thrill, Breathed deep breath in heroes dead Tasted the immortals' bread. Self. Seeing what I might have been Reproved the thing I was, Smoke on heaven's clearest sheen, The speck within the rose. By revered ones' frailties stung Reverence was with anguish wrung. Life. But all thy anguish and thy discontent Was growth of mine, the elemental strife Toward feeling manifold with vision blent To wider thought: I was no vulgar life That, like the water-mirrored ape, Not discerns the thing it sees, Nor knows its own in others' shape, Railing, scorning, at its ease. Half man's truth must hidden lie If unlit by Sorrow's eye. I by Sorrow wrought in thee Willing pain of ministry. Self. Slowly was the lesson taught Through passion, error, care; Insight was the loathing fraught And effort with despair. Written on the wall I saw "Bow!" I knew, not loved, the law. Life. But then I brought a love that wrote within The law of gratitude, and made thy heart Beat to the heavenly tune of seraphim Whose only joy in having is, to impart: Till thou, poor Self despite thy ire, Wrestling' gainst my mingled share, Thy faults, hard falls, and vain desire Still to be what others were Filled, o'erflowed with tenderness Seeming more as thou wert less, Knew me through that anguish past As a fellowship more vast. Self. Yea, I embrace thee, changeful Life! Far-sent, unchosen mate! Self and thou, no more at strife, Shall wed in hallowed state. Willing spousals now shall prove Life is justified by love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CAPELLA by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA AFTER LOOKING UP INTO ONE TOO MANY CAMERAS by HICOK. BOB FOR A TALL HEADSTONE by JOHN HOLLANDER SELF-EMPLOYED by DAVID IGNATOW WHY CAN'T I BE by DAVID IGNATOW BROTHER AND SISTER by MARY ANN EVANS |
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