Analysis of Years Ago



THE old dead flowers of bygone summers,
   The old sweet songs that are no more sung,
The rose-red dawns that were welcome comers
   When you and I and the world were young,
Are lost, O love, to the light for ever,
   And seen no more of the moon or sun,
For seas divide, and the seasons sever,
   And twain are we that of old were one.

O fair lost love, when the ship went sailing
   Across the seas in the years agone,
And seaward-set were the eyes unquailing,
   And landward-looking the faces wan,

My heart went back as a dove goes homeward
   With wings aweary to seek its nest,
While fierce sea-eagles are flying foamward
   And storm-winds whiten the surge’s crest;

And far inland for a farewell pardon
   Flew on and on, while the ship went South—
The rose was red in the red-rose garden,
   And red the rose of your laughing mouth.

But no word came on the wind in token
   Of love that lasts till the end; and so
My heart returned to me bruised and broken,
   From you, my love, of the long ago.

The green fields seemed in the distance growing
   To silken squares on a weaver’s loom,
As oversea came the land-wind blowing
   The faint sweet scent of the clover bloom.

A rarer odour to me it carried,
   In subtle delicate way to tell
Of you, ere you and the world were married—
   The lilac-odour you loved so well.

Again, I saw you beneath the blooms of
   Those lilac-trees in the garden old.
Ah me! each tree is a mark for tombs of
   Dead dreams and memories still and cold.

And Death comes there with his breath scent-laden,
   And gathering gently the blossoms shed
(In guise of Autumn, the brown-browed maiden)
   With your and my dead buries his dead.

O, fairer far than the fair ideal
   Of him who imaged the foam-born Queen
In foam-white marble—a dream made real—
   To me were you in those years, I ween.

Your lips were redder than night-shade berries
   That burn in borders of hedgerowed lanes,
And sweeter far than the sweet wild cherries
   The June sun flushes with crimson stains.

And gray your eyes as a gray dove’s wings were—
   A gray soft-shadowing deeps profound,
Where thoughts that reached to the heart of things were,
   And love lay dreaming though seeming drowned.

Twin-tulip-breasted like her the tread of
   Whose feet made music in Paphos fair,
The world to me was not worth a thread of
   Your brown, ambrosial, braided hair.

Mayhap you loved me at one time truly,
   And I was jealous, and you were proud;
But mine the love of the king in Thule,
   Till death; and yours—sleeps well in shroud.

So night came down like a sombre raven,
   And southward ever the ship was borne,
Till glad green fields and lessening haven
   Grew faint and faded like ghosts at morn.

As fields of Heaven eternal blooming,
   Those flowerful fields of my mother-land
In midnight visions are still perfuming
   All wild waste places and seas of sand.

And still in seasons of storm and thunder,
   In strange lands under your land and mine,
And though our ways have been wide asunder,
   In calm and tempest and shade and shine

Your face I see as I saw the last time—
   As one borne space-ward on wings of light,
With eyes turned back to a sight of past time,
   Beholds for ever that self-same sight.

But scorn has died on your lips, and through you
   Shines out star-bright an immortal grace,
As though God then to His heaven drew you,
   And sent an angel to take your place.

I plucked one rose from the tree you cherished,
   My heart’s blood ebbing has kept it red,
And all my hopes with its scent have perished;
   Why mourn them now—are the dead not dead?

And yet, God knows, as this rose I kiss, you
   May feel the kisses across the sea;
And soul to soul for the larger issue
   Your soul may stand with the soul of me,

Unknown to you—for the strings of Being
   Are not so easily snapped or torn;
And we may journey with eyes unseeing
   On paths that meet in the years unborn.

Farewell, dear heart. Warm sighs may sever
   Ripe lips of love like a rose-leaf curled,
But you remain unto me for ever
   The one fair woman in all the world.


Scheme ABABCDCD EDBX FGFG DHDH DIDI EJEJ KLKL MNMN DODO PXPD QRQR CSCS MTMT UVLV DWDW EYEY CZCZ 1212 3434 5O5O 3U3U EWBW C6C6
Poetic Form
Metre 011101110 011111111 0111101010 110100101 1111101110 011110111 1101001010 011111101 1111101110 01010011 01010011 010100101 1111101110 1111111 111101101 011100101 01110110 110110111 0111001110 010111101 1111101010 111110101 1101111010 111110101 0111001010 110110101 101101110 011110101 010111110 010100111 1111001010 0111111 0111101011 11100101 1111101111 110100101 0111111110 0100100101 0111001110 110111011 110110101 11110111 011100111 110101111 1101011110 11010111 0101101110 011101101 0111101110 011100101 1111101110 011101101 1101010011 11110011 0111111011 11010101 111111110 011100101 110110101 11011101 111110110 010100111 1111010010 110101111 1111001010 11111101 011011010 111100111 0101011010 011101101 01101111010 010100101 1111111011 111111111 1111101111 11101111 1111111011 111110101 1111111011 011101111 1111101110 111101111 0111111110 111110111 0111111111 110100101 0111101010 111110111 0111101110 111100111 01110111 111100111 11111110 111110111 1101101110 011100101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 4,033
Words 738
Sentences 23
Stanzas 23
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 96
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 134
Words per stanza (avg) 32
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

3:41 min read
120

Victor James Daley

Victor James William Patrick Daley was an Australian poet. more…

All Victor James Daley poems | Victor James Daley Books

0 fans

Discuss this Victor James Daley poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Years Ago" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37556/years-ago>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    More poems by

    Victor James Daley

    »

    December 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    9
    days
    4
    hours
    19
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who is the author of the renowned poem collection "Leaves of Grass"?
    A Langston Hughes
    B Walt Whitman
    C Robert Frost
    D Emily Dickinson