Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OH STRANGE AND SAD, by JESSIE M. GILMORE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OH STRANGE AND SAD, by                    
First Line: Oh strange and sad that two may live beside
Last Line: And finds the shadows that its longings wore.
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


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.





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