Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO TEUILA, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO TEUILA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have been far, I have been near
Last Line: So long as you are kind and fair.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Beauty; Love


1

I HAVE been far, I have been near,
I have been young and old,
But one of your eyes is brown, my dear,
And one is brown and gold.

Your pretty points you still renew
And alter from of old.
For once I knew it brown and blue
That now is brown and gold.

Ten thousand dames and twenty-two
Compete to take the crown,
They cannot put their purpose through
Against the gold and brown.

Ten thousand dames and forty-four
Unhappy can't unfold;
The eye was brown and blue before
And now is brown and gold.

Ten thousand dames and fifty-five
Alas! must all go down.
For the shyest, kindest glance alive
Shoots from the gold and brown.

2

My dear and fair, my kind and pretty,
Why come and sue to me for praise?
Why come and tease me for a ditty?
Who are, yourself, my song of days?

Yourself the goddess bright that lingers
Anear -- and sings and sanctifies.
The days go round between your fingers,
And the house brightens with your eyes!

Yourself the poem and the poet,
My dear and fair, my bright and sweet,
The days rhyme (though you don't know it)
And the season's chime, dear, with your feet!

My bright light (and who could oppose you?),
My inexhaustible fount of smiles,
You are the tune that the whole world goes to
And the brightness of the passing miles!

The beauty and the song of water,
The brightness and the blue of air --
I can be happy, my friend and daughter,
So long as you are kind and fair.





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