| Matthew Arnold (1822–88). The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840–1867. 1909. | | | | Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems | | Absence |
| | [First published 1852. Reprinted 1853, ’54, ’57.]
IN 1 this fair stranger’s eyes of grey | |
| Thine eyes, my love, I see. | |
| I shudder: for the passing day | |
| Had borne me far from thee. | |
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| This is the curse of life: that not | 5 |
| A nobler calmer train | |
| Of wiser thoughts and feelings blot | |
| Our passions from our brain; | |
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| But each day brings its petty dust | |
| Our soon-chok’d souls to fill, | 10 |
| And we forget because we must, | |
| And not because we will. | |
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| I struggle towards the light; and ye, | |
| Once-long’d-for storms of love! | |
| If with the light ye cannot be, | 15 |
| I bear that ye remove. | |
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| I struggle towards the light; but oh, | |
| While yet the night is chill, | |
| Upon Time’s barren, stormy flow, | |
| Stay with me, Marguerite, still! | 20 |
| | | Note 1. Absence Title] Switzerland. VI. Absence 1853. Switzerland. VII. Absence 1854. Switzerland. VIII. Absence 1857. [back] | | |
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