Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WITH A TOAST TO THE BRIDE, by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WITH A TOAST TO THE BRIDE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They met, they looked, they sighed, they loved
Last Line: To substitute for love.
Subject(s): Marriage; Toasts; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


THEY met, they looked, they sighed, they loved;
Straight each the other chose.
(Why wait till slow-paced years have proved
What each by instinct knows?)
Whate'er mistake we mortals make,
Sure, none is made above.
Give prudence to the prudes; there is
No substitute for love.

Howe'er the worldly-wise may mate,
Apart from soul or sense,
And as undying passion rate
Their tepid preference,
Love is the wing that's sure to bring
Back to the ark the dove.
What all their wisdom? Ah, it is
No substitute for love.

And those who by ambition blind
Would with a title wed,
That, when they are not sore maligned,
They may be envied,
Heaven sends them pride wherewith to hide
The loss they know not of --
To find -- too late, alas! -- there is
No substitute for love.

Then here's success to youth and maid
Who hold in hopeful hands
And weave together, unafraid,
Life's old mysterious strands.
"Love is enough" -- that is the stuff
Fortune is fashioned of.
To face the fickle world, there's naught
To substitute for love.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net