Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OPERA OF CAMILLA, by GEORGE MEREDITH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OPERA OF CAMILLA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If this is death, it is not hard to bear
Last Line: To serve god's aim: else die we with the sun.
Subject(s): Death; Love; Opera; Dead, The


IF this is death, it is not hard to bear.
Your handkerchief drinks up my blood so fast
It seems to love it. Threads of my own hair
Are woven in it. 'Tis the one I cast
That midnight from my window, when you stood
Alone, and heaven seemed to love you so!
I did not think to wet it with my blood
When next I tossed it to my love below.

CAMILLO (cherishing her)

Camilla, pity! say you will not die.
Your voice is like a soul lost in the sky.

CAMILLA

I know not if my soul has flown; I know
My body is a weight I cannot raise:
My voice between them issues, and I go
Upon a journey of uncounted days.
Forgetfulness is like a closing sea;
But you are very bright above me still.
My life I give as it was given to me:
I enter on a darkness wide and chill.

CAMILLO

O noble heart! a million fires consume
The hateful hand that sends you to your doom.

CAMILLA

There is an end to joy: there is no end
To striving; therefore ever let us strive
In purity that shall the toil befriend,
And keep our poor mortality alive.
I hang upon the boundaries like light
Along the hills when downward goes the day;
I feel the silent creeping up of night.
For you, my husband, lies a flaming way.

CAMILLO

I lose your eyes: I lose your voice: 'tis faint.
Ah, Christ! see the fallen eyelids of a saint.

CAMILLA

Our life is but a little holding, lent
To do a mighty labour: we are one
With heaven and the stars when it is spent
To serve God's aim: else die we with the sun.





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