The Voice

Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me,
Saying that now you are not as you were
When you had changed from the one who was all to me
But as at first, when our day was fair.

Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then,
Standing as when I drew near to the town
Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you then,
Even to the original air-blue gown!

Or is it only the breeze, in it listlessness
Traveling across the wet mead to me here,
You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness,
Heard no more again far or near?

Thus I, faltering forward,
Leaves around me falling,
Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward,
And the woman calling.

Footnotes

  1. The wind is personified as "oozing," creating a vivid, almost eerie image.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor

  2. There’s an ironic tone. The irony lies in the uncertainty of whether the voice is real or just a product of the speaker's imagination. The speaker grapples with the ambiguity of the source of the voice, adding complexity to the emotional landscape of the poem.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor

  3. The use of enjambment--ending a line without a full-stop--creates a flowing and continuous rhythm, linking lines and ideas. It contributes to the contemplative and introspective tone of the poem.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor

  4. The specific details of her standing near the town and wearing the "original air-blue gown" evoke a vivid memory. The speaker seeks confirmation of the woman's presence and reminisces about a specific moment in the past.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor

  5. The speaker begins by addressing a woman who is deeply missed. Since she’s not there, this is the use of apostrophe. Thomas Hardy lost his first wife and several of his poems deal with grieving.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor