Modern Love XIX: No State Is Enviable

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



No state is enviable. To the luck alone
Of some few favoured men I would put claim.
I bleed, but her who wounds I will not blame.
Have I not felt her heart as 'twere my own
Beat thro' me? could I hurt her? heaven and hell!
But I could hurt her cruelly! Can I let
My Love's old time-piece to another set,
Swear it can't stop, and must for ever swell?
Sure, that's one way Love drifts into the mart
Where goat-legged buyers throng. I see not plain:--
My meaning is, it must not be again.
Great God! the maddest gambler throws his heart.
If any state be enviable on earth,
'Tis yon born idiot's, who, as days go by,
Still rubs his hands before him, like a fly,
In a queer sort of meditative mirth.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

43 sec read
126

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACDDCEFGEHIIH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 702
Words 140
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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