Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840-1922)
At a Funeral
1I loved her too, this woman who is dead.
2 Look in my face. I have a right
to go
3And see the place where you have made her bed
4 Among the snow.
5I loved her too whom you are burying.
6 I have a right to stand beside her
bier,
7And to my handful of the dust I fling,
8 That she may hear.
9I loved her; and it was not for the eyes
10 Which you have shut, nor for
her yellow hair,
11Nor for the face which in your bosom lies.
12 Let it lie there!
13Nor for the wild-birds' music of her voice,
14 Which we shall hear in dreams
till we too sleep;
15Nor for the rest, which made the world rejoice,
16 The angels weep.
17It was not for the payment of sweet love,
18 Though love is often straitened for a
kiss,
19Nor for the hope of other joys above,
20 But only this,
21That she had laid her hand upon my heart
22 Once in the summer time when
we were young,
23And that her finger-tips had left a smart,
24 And that my tongue
25Had spoken words which might not be unspoken
26 Lest they should make a by-word of love's
truth,
27And I had sworn that love should be the token
28 Of my youth.
29And so I gave her all, and long ago
30 The treasure of my youth was
put in pawn;
31And she was little richer that I know
32 When that was gone.
33But I have lived a beggar since that day
34 And hide my face it may be
from men's eyes;
35For often I have seen them shrink away,
36 As in surprise
37That such a loathsome cripple should be found
38 To walk abroad in daylight
with the rest,
39And scarce a rag to cover up the wound
40 Upon his breast.
41Yet no man stopped to ask how this might be,
42 Or I had scared them, and let
loose my tongue,
43How I had bought myself this misery
44 When I was young.
45Yet I have loved her. This must be my pay,
46 The pension I have earned me
with these tears;
47The right to kneel beside her grave to-day,
48 Despite these years,
49With all her kisses burning on my cheek,
50 As when I left her and our
love was dead,
51And our lips trembled though they did not
speak,
52 The night I fled;
53The right to bid you stand aside, nor be
54 A witness of our meeting. Did
you love
55In joy as I have loved in misery?
56 You did not prove
57Your love was stronger than the strength of
death,
58 Or she had never died upon
your hand.
59I would have fed her breathing with my breath;
60 I would have fanned
61A living wind of Heaven to her lips;
62 I would have stolen life from
Paradise.
63And she is dead, and you have seen eclipse
64 Within those eyes.
65If I could know that you had loved her well;
66 If I could hold it for a
certainty
67That you had sold your life as I did sell;
68 If I could see
69The blackness of your soul, and with my tongue
70 Taste the full bitterness of
tears unshed;
71If I should find your very heart was wrung
72 And maimed and dead;
73If I should feel your hand's grasp crumble
mine,
74 And hug the pain when I should
grasp in turn;
75If I could dip my fingers in the brine
76 Of eyes that burn;
77If I could hear your voice call back the dead
78 With such a mighty cry of
agony
79That she should turn and listen in the bed
80 Where she doth lie,
81And all the heavens should together roll,
82 Thinking they heard the angel's trumpet
tone,
83I could forget it that you bought a soul
84 Which was my own;
85I could forget that she forgot her vows,
86 That aught was bartered for the wealth of
love;
87I could untell the story of my woes,
88 Till God above
89Should hold her guiltless and condone the wrong
90 Done to His justice; I could
take your hand
91And call you brother, as we went along
92 To take our stand
93Before His judgment-seat with her again
94 Where we are hurrying, -- for
we could not keep
95Our place unchallenged in the ranks of men
96 Who do not weep.
Notes
6] bier: the platform on which her coffin lies.
18] straitened: be hard put for lack of.
26] by-word: mockery, contemptible commonplace.
82] the angel's trumpet tone: sounding doomsday, the day of
judgment.
86] aught: something. bartered: traded, exchanged for.
Online text
copyright © 2005, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of
Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology
Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original
text: The Poetical Works of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt: A Complete Edition
(London: Macmillan, 1914): I, 124-27. PR 4149 B8 1914 Robarts
Library
First publication date: 1892
Publication date note:
The Love Lyrics and Songs of Proteus (Kelmscott Press, 1892).
RPO
poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2005
Recent
editing: 1:2005/2/19
Form:
quatrains
Rhyme: abab
Other poems by
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
