Passion.

Charlotte Bronte 1816 (Thornton, West Yorkshire) – 1855 (Haworth)




Some have won a wild delight,
By daring wilder sorrow;
Could I gain thy love to-night,
I'd hazard death to-morrow.
  
Could the battle-struggle earn
One kind glance from thine eye,
How this withering heart would burn,
The heady fight to try!
  
Welcome nights of broken sleep,
And days of carnage cold,
Could I deem that thou wouldst weep
To hear my perils told.
  
Tell me, if with wandering bands
I roam full far away,
Wilt thou to those distant lands
In spirit ever stray?
  
Wild, long, a trumpet sounds afar;
Bid me, bid me go
Where Seik and Briton meet in war,
On Indian Sutlej's flow.
  
Blood has dyed the Sutlej's waves
With scarlet stain, I know;
Indus' borders yawn with graves,
Yet, command me go!
  
Though rank and high the holocaust
Of nations steams to heaven,
Glad I'd join the death-doomed host,
Were but the mandate given.
  
Passion's strength should nerve my arm,
Its ardour stir my life,
Till human force to that dread charm
Should yield and sink in wild alarm,
Like trees to tempest-strife.
  
If, hot from war, I seek thy love,
Darest thou turn aside?
Darest thou then my fire reprove,
By scorn, and maddening pride?
  
No, my will shall yet control
Thy will, so high and free,
And love shall tame that haughty soul,
Yes, tenderest love for me.
  
I'll read my triumph in thine eyes,
Behold, and prove the change;
Then leave, perchance, my noble prize,
Once more in arms to range.
  
I'd die when all the foam is up,
The bright wine sparkling high;
Nor wait till in the exhausted cup
Life's dull dregs only lie.
  
Then Love thus crowned with sweet reward,
Hope blest with fulness large,
I'd mount the saddle, draw the sword,
And perish in the charge!
  
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 25, 2023

1:35 min read
32

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH XBXB IBIB XJXJ KLKKL XMLM NONO PQPQ RDRD STST
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,626
Words 310
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. more…

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    "Passion." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/54923/passion.>.

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