What Shall We Do?

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Here now, for evermore, our lives must part.
 My path leads there, and yours another way.
What shall we do with this fond love, dear heart?
 It grows a heavier burden day by day.

Hide it?  In all earth’s caverns, void and vast,
 There is not room enough to hide it, dear;
Not even the mighty storehouse of the past
 Could cover it, from our own eyes, I fear.

Drown it?  Why, were the contents of each ocean
 Merged into one great sea, too shallow then
Would be its waters, to sink this emotion
 So deep it could not rise to life again.

Burn it?  In all the furnace flames below,
 It would not in a thousand years expire.
Nay!  It would thrive, exult, expand and grow,
 For from its very birth it fed on fire.

Starve it?  Yes, yes, that is the only way.
 Give it no more food, of glance, or word, or sigh,
No memories, even, of any bygone day;
 No crumbs of vain regrets – so let it die.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

52 sec read
66

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX BHBH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 886
Words 175
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

All Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems | Ella Wheeler Wilcox Books

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