The Remonstrance

Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)



I was at peace until you came
And set a careless mind aflame;
I lived in quiet; cold, content;
All longing in safe banishment,
Until your ghostly lips and eyes
Made wisdom unwise.

Naught was in me to tempt your feet
To seek a lodging. Quite forgot
Lay the sweet solitude we two
In childhood used to wander through;
Time's cold had closed my heart about,
And shut you out.

Well, and what then? . . . O vision grave,
Take all the little all I have!
Strip me of what in voiceless throught
Life's kept of life, unhoped, unsought! --
Reverie and dream that memory must
Hide deep in dust!

This only I say: Though cold and bare,
The haunted house you have chosen to share,
Still 'neath its walls the moonbeam goes
And trembles on the untended rose;
Still o'er its broken roof-tree rise
The starry arches of the skies;
And 'neath your lightest word shall be
The thunder of an ebbing sea.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
47

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABXCC XXDDEE XXBBFF GGHHCCII
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 887
Words 164
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 8

Walter de la Mare

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet short story writer and novelist best remembered for his works for children and The Listeners He was born in Kent and was educated at St Pauls Cathedral School His first book Songs of Childhood was published under the name Walter Ramal His 1921 novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction more…

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