Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD LOVE, by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You must be very old , sir giles' Last Line: True love is not so hard to smutch. Subject(s): Love - Nature Of; Old Age | ||||||||
"YOU must be very old, Sir Giles," I said; he said, "Yea, very old;" Whereat the mournfulest of smiles Creased his dry skin with many a fold. "They hammered out my basnet point Into a round salade," he said, "The basnet being quite out of joint, Nevertheless the salade rasps my head." He gazed at the great fire awhile: "And you are getting old, Sir John;" (He said this with that cunning smile That was most sad): "we both wear on. "Knights come to court and look at me With eyebrows up; except my lord, And my dear lady, none I see That know the ways of my old sword." (My lady! at that word no pang Stopped all my blood.) "But tell me, John, Is it quite true that Pagans hang So thick about the East, that on The Eastern Sea no Venice flag Can fly unpaid for?" "True," I said, "And in such way the miscreants drag Christ's cross upon the ground, I dread "That Constantine must fall this year." Within my heart, "These things are small; This is not small, that things outwear I thought were made for every year: all, "All things go soon or late," I said. I saw the duke in court next day; Just as before, his grand great head Above his gold robes dreaming lay; Only his face was paler; there I saw his duchess sit by him; And she -- she was changed more; her hair Before my eyes that used to swim, And make me dizzy with great bliss Once, when I used to watch her sit -- Her hair is bright still, yet it is As though some dust were thrown on it. Her eyes are shallower, as though Some gray glass were behind; her brow And cheeks, that streaming bones show through Are not so good for kissing now. Her lips are drier, now she is A great duke's wife these many years. They will not shudder with a kiss As once they did, being moist with tears. Also her hands have lost that way Of clinging that they used to have They looked quite easy as they lay Upon the silken cushions brave With broidery of the apples green My Lord Duke bears upon his shield. Her face, alas! that I have seen Look fresher than an April field. This is all gone now: gone also Her tender walking; when she walks She is most queenly, I well know. And she is fair still; -- as the stalks Of faded summer lilies are, So she is grown now unto me This spring-time, when the flowers star The meadows, birds sing wonderfully. I warrant once she used to cling About his neck, and kissed him so, And then his coming step would ring Joy-bells for her, -- some time ago. Ah! sometimes like an idle dream That hinders true life overmuch, Sometimes like a lost heaven, these seem. True love is not so hard to smutch. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT EIGHTY I CHANGE MY VIEW by DAVID IGNATOW FAWN'S FOSTER-MOTHER by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE DEER LAY DOWN THEIR BONES by ROBINSON JEFFERS OLD BLACK MEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A WINTER ODE TO THE OLD MEN OF LUMMUS PARK, / MIAMI, FLORIDA by DONALD JUSTICE AFTER A LINE BY JOHN PEALE BISHOP by DONALD JUSTICE TO HER BODY, AGAINST TIME by ROBERT KELLY SONG FROM A COUNTRY FAIR by LEONIE ADAMS FOR THE BED AT KELMSCOTT by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) |
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