They bind up the wounds which we think are so deep,
This dream of our youth will fade out as the splendour
Fades from the skies when the sun sinks to sleep,
The cloud of forgetfulness, over and over
Will banish the last rosy colours away,
And the fingers of time will weave garlands to cover
The scar which you think is a life-mark today.
You will forget me. The one boon you covet
Now above all things will soon. seem no prize,
And the heart, which you hold not in keeping to prove it
True or untrue, will lose worth in your eyes.
The one drop to-day, that you deem only wanting
To fill your life-cup to the brim, soon will seem
But a valueless mite; and the ghost that is haunting
The aisles of your heart will pass out with the dream.
You will forget me, will thank me for saying
The words which you think are so pointed with pain.
Time loves a new lay, and the dirge he is playing
Will change for you soon to a livelier strain.
I shall pass from your life, I shall pass out forever,
And these hours we have spent will be sunk in the past.
Youth buries its dead, grief kills seldom or never
And forgetfulness covers all sorrows at last.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
One of My favourite poets
19 comments:
Very moving and sad and beautiful.
lovely, very lovely indeed.......I can see why you like her.
Ginga, I find it kinda uplifting, I think the greatest gift you can give someone, is the gift of knowing they can survive without you.
Jo, she is an old poet, from the early 19th century......I love her writing.
Maybe, but it's still sad, you will forget me,
It is sad I agree......and maybe not so true, I still remember all those I have loved deeply.
It's a really delicate line she is walking with the tone. She doesn't want to be overly dramatic and poetical but she wants to put plenty emotion in it so its hard to catch the exact feeling. So at the same time it is consoling, to me there is a real womans thinking in it, rather than a profoundity it is like things I have heard said to me that feel like both selfdefence for her emotions but also a kind of almost accusatory tone, you will forget me, it has all those things in it. A deceptively complex and subtle poem that really rewards more careful and repeated reading. Cool bananas,
Thats funny paul, i took it the completly other way, that she wants to be forgotten, that she is comforting him, as she leaves him, she knows that he will get over it, which is her release,he doesnt think so, but in her greater wisdom, she knows it to be true.
"You will forget me, will thank me for saying
The words which you think are so pointed with pain."
She is telling him that better things will come "Time loves a new lay, and the dirge he is playing
Will change for you soon to a livelier strain."
This is what i meant by the gift of
knowing someone can live without you....Not understood much, by man or woman.
PS this is particularly meaningful to me, as every man i have loved, I have left, while I still loved him, and they never thought they would get over it...and the burden of THAT is sometimes to great to bear.
hmmmmmmm......all in the perception of the reader, methinks.
Lovely piece, though.
It is a wonderful work and ever so true, yes there is pain-on both sides-but you are right in that it is also a gift. It is a wonderful metaphor how she aligns her presence with that of a wound as often lovers become that to one another. I also read it as consolation. She is reassuring.
But like any good art there is openness for interpretation relating to personal experience and bias.
Mel, and ozzy, definetly in the perception of the reader, as is everything
something new for me--wonderful but sad poem. thanks for the kind words left on my site!
This is so perfect Enigma... such a perfect, poignant voice, which made me quite teary (agh, ignore me, haha)
Thanks for your comment on my last piece. I will be sure to keep in touch and bloody hell yes, if you get over to blighty I know a bar that would just about be able to handle us and our skinnes ;)
Scott, i am a bit intimidated leaving comments on some sites, as I the writing is so profound....it took me ages to pluck up the courage to comment on yours & narnies, and ozzies, and ginga, and that whole bunch, actually.
Narnie, you are going to be sooo sucsessful, i know this, and ellas writings are very spiritually deep,I dont know if any county would be ready for us.
(this kept playing on my mind and I didn't want to lost it so have taken a copy to tuck away on my disk... hope you don't mind. x)
lost/lose.... grrrrr
(((((((NARNIE)))))))I miss you, i tried to acsess your blog, but it said denied..I hope you aree well my dear.
let me join in here. the poem touched me, too. if she can think and write like this, and he still forgets her, it would be a sad commentary about him. this is a person one would remember and as time went by, perhaps remember more and more fondly. we do forget the pain of the pain, while maybe we remember the pain of the name. hopefully, once we forget the pain of the pain we will learn to laugh at the pain of the name. or something. thanks for visiting my blog and leaving such a wonderful note. i am enjoying you writing and the evidence of your heart and concerns and the collection of writings here. i'll be back!
(i am temporarily on leave from the business while we adjust to life in new mexico. but i miss it and look forward to jumping back in. you know how it is, i guess.)
Rick, this is interesting how so many people took this poem in differant ways,i like the way you summed it up, he will forget the pain, but not the name.
good luck in mexico, we were going over there a few years ago to do a war film, but it got canned.
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