To a Distant Friend
To a Distant Friend - meaning Summary
Longing for a Reply
The speaker addresses a distant beloved, anguished by silence and fearing that absence has eroded their love. He insists his own devotion has been constant and selfless, and pleads for some response to end his tormenting doubts. The poem contrasts tender memory and faithful vigilance with imagery of desolation, asking the beloved to speak so the speaker can know whether affection remains or has been lost to distance.
Read Complete AnalysesWhy art thou silent! Is thy love a plant Of such weak fibre that the treacherous air Of absence withers what was once so fair? Is there no debt to pay, no boon to grant? Yet have my thoughts for thee been vigilant, Bound to thy service with unceasing care-- The mind's least generous wish a mendicant For nought but what thy happiness could spare. Speak!--though this soft warm heart, once free to hold A thousand tender pleasures, thine and mine, Be left more desolate, more dreary cold Than a forsaken bird's-nest fill'd with snow 'Mid its own bush of leafless eglantine-- Speak, that my torturing doubts their end may know!
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