Half Remembered

We touch things we see not

And know things we know not

And dream of sweet things that

We’ve not set in store,

We say things we think not

And do things we do not

And wonder at wonders

We’ve wondered before.

 

I see you in shades of

Another life’s colours

Where sweetness and pleasance

And love was the play,

Where green was the colour

You wore to the wedding

That bound me to see where

Your loveliness lay.

 

And wild was the country

We took for our mansion,

And green was the valley

And green were your eyes,

And seen were you riding

So high in the saddle

Of Pacer and Gracer

By Barking Wood rise.

 

I vaguely see visions

Of cottagers doorsteps

In winter-white mantles

Of featherdown snow,

And you looking on me

While glowing with love-light

As I took you on to

The valley below.

 

And sometimes I see when

I laid you in velvet

And stole a last kiss from

The lips we had shared,

And went on to mourn ‘til

The tides took my eyesight,

And left me to wonder how

Much you had cared.

 

Now when I awake with

These visions so fleeting

That fade and recede in

The glow of the dawn,

I look at you lying so

Peaceful beside me

And smile at the love shared

Before we were born.

 

We touch things we see not

And know things we know not

And dream of sweet things that

We’ve not set in store,

We say things we think not

And do things we do not

And wonder at wonders

We’ve wondered before…

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[cynthiabuhainbaello]

This romantic poem flows beautifully like a dream, a heavenly encounter that is fleeting and too misty to be remembered. Yet the words paint the images in a remarkably sharp way, with the intensity of emotions expressed so well, making it more a reality than a dream. The repetition of the first stanza in the last part marks the uncertainty between reality and wonder. Thought-provoking yet lovely in its tender affections.