Why Will You Haunt Me

Mathilde Blind 1841 (Mannheim) – 1896 (London)



Why will you haunt me unawares,
And walk into my sleep,
Pacing its shadowy thoroughfares,
Where long-dried perfume scents the airs,
While ghosts of sorrow creep,
Where on Hope's ruined altar-stairs,
With ineffectual beams,
The Moon of Memory coldly glares
Upon the land of dreams?

My yearning eyes were fain to look
Upon your hidden face;
Their love, alas! you could not brook,
But in your own you mutely took
My hand, and for a space
You wrung it till I throbbed and shook,
And woke with wildest moan
And wet face channeled like a brook
With your tears or my own.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

31 sec read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAABACAC DEDDEDFDF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 572
Words 104
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 9, 9

Mathilde Blind

Mathilde Blind, was a German-born British poet. Her work was praised by Matthew Arnold and French politician and historian Louis Blanc. more…

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