The Wife

The Wife

Original Text
Marjorie L. C. Pickthall, The Wood Carver's Wife (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1922): 39-40. PS 8531 I35W6 1922 Robarts Library.
1Living, I had no might
2To make you hear,
3Now, in the inmost night,
4I am so near
5No whisper, falling light,
6Divides us, dear.
7Living, I had no claim
8On your great hours.
9Now the thin candle-flame,
10The closing flowers,
11Wed summer with my name, --
12And these are ours.
13Your shadow on the dust,
14Strength, and a cry,
15Delight, despair, mistrust, --
16All these am I.
17Dawn, and the far hills thrust
18To a far sky.
19Living, I had no skill
20To stay your tread,
21Now all that was my will
22Silence has said.
23We are one for good and ill
24Since I am dead.
Publication Start Year
1921
Publication Notes
Smart Set (June 1921).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme