The Husband Of To-Day
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
EYES caught by beauty, fancy by eyes caught;
Sweet possibilities, question, and wonder--
What did her smile say? What has her brain thought?
Her standard, what? Am I o'er it or under?
Flutter in meeting--in absence dreaming;
Tremor in greeting--for meeting scheming;
Caught by the senses, and yet all through
True with the heart of me, sweetheart, to you.
Only the brute in me yields to the pressure
Of longings inherent--of vices acquired;
All this, my darling, is folly--not pleasure,
Only my fancy--not soul--has been fired.
Sense thrills exalted, thrills to love-madness;
Fancy grown sad becomes almost love-sadness;
And yet love has with it nothing to do,
Love is fast fettered, sweetheart, to you.
Lacking fresh fancies, time flags--grows wingless;
Life without folly would fail--fall flat;
But the love that lights life, and makes death's self stingless--
You, and you only, have wakened that.
Sweet are all women, you are the best of them;
You are so dear because dear are the rest of them;
After each fancy has sprung, grown, and died,
Back I come ever, dear, to your side.
The strongest of passions--in joy--seeks the new,
But in grief I turn ever, sweetheart, to you.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 108 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXABBCC ADADEECC EFEFGGHHCC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,186 |
Words | 199 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 10 |
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"The Husband Of To-Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8970/the-husband-of-to-day>.
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