One Before the Last, The
Rupert Brooke 1887 (Rugby) – 1915 (Aegean Sea)
I dreamt I was in love again
With the One Before the Last,
And smiled to greet the pleasant pain
Of that innocent young past.
But I jumped to feel how sharp had been
The pain when it did live,
How the faded dreams of Nineteen-ten
Were Hell in Nineteen-five.
The boy's woe was as keen and clear,
The boy's love just as true,
And the One Before the Last, my dear,
Hurt quite as much as you.
* * * * *
Sickly I pondered how the lover
Wrongs the unanswering tomb,
And sentimentalizes over
What earned a better doom.
Gently he tombs the poor dim last time,
Strews pinkish dust above,
And sighs, "The dear dead boyish pastime!
But THIS -- ah, God! -- is Love!"
-- Better oblivion hide dead true loves,
Better the night enfold,
Than men, to eke the praise of new loves,
Should lie about the old!
* * * * *
Oh! bitter thoughts I had in plenty.
But here's the worst of it --
I shall forget, in Nineteen-twenty,
YOU ever hurt abit!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 142 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXB XCAC DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LXLB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 948 |
Words | 184 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4 |
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"One Before the Last, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/33710/one-before-the-last,-the>.
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