Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WISH, by JOHN FREEMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WISH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: That you might happier be than all the rest
Last Line: Or wish you less than you.
Subject(s): Wishes


THAT you might happier be than all the rest,
Than I who have been happy loving you,
Of all the innocent even the happiest—
This I beseeched for you.

Until I thought of those unending skies—
Of stagnant cloud, or fleckless dull blue air,
Of days and nights delightless, no surprise,
No threat, no sting, no fear;

And of the stirless waters of the mind,
Waveless, unfurrowed, of no living hue,
With dead leaves dropping slowly in no wind,
And nothing flowering new.

And then no more I wished you happiness,
But that whatever fell of joy or woe
I would not dare, O Sweet, to wish it less,
Or wish you less than you.





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