Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MAD LOVER, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My eyes are feverish and dull Last Line: So moan yourself to death! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Beauty; Death; Kisses; Life; Love - Unrequited; Dead, The | ||||||||
MY eyes are feverish and dull; I'm tired, and my throat hurts so! And life has grown so pitiful -- So very pitiful, I know Not any hope of rest or peace, But just to live on, ache by ache, Feeling my heart click on, nor cease, Nor ever wholly break. You smiled so sweetly, Miriam Wayne, I could not help but love your smile, And fair as sunshine after rain It glimmered on me all the while; Why, it did soak as summer light Through all my life, until, indeed, I ripened as an apple might From golden rind to seed. Fate never wrought so pitiless An evil, as when first your eyes Poured back in mine the tenderness That made the world a Paradise -- For Miriam, remembering The warm white hands that lay in mine Like wisps of sunshine vanishing -- Your kisses, spilled like wine Down over forehead, face and lips, Till I lay drunken with delight From crown of soul to finger-tips -- . . . Shriek, Memory, in mad affright! -- Howl at the moon like any hound! Yelp "love" and "liar" every breath, And "Heaven is lost and hell is found!" So moan yourself to death! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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