"Forever": 'tis a single word! <br /> Our rude forefathers deemed it two: <br /> Can you imagine so absurd <br /> A view? <br /> <br /> "Forever"! What abysms of woe <br /> The word reveals, what frenzy, what <br /> Despair! "For ever" (printed so) <br /> Did not. <br /> <br /> It looks, ah me! how trite and tame! <br /> It fails to sadden or appal <br /> Or solace--it is not the same <br /> At all. <br /> <br /> O thou to whom it first occurred <br /> To solder the disjoined, and dower <br /> The native language with a word <br /> Of power: <br /> <br /> We bless thee! Whether far or near <br /> Thy dwelling, whether dark or fair <br /> Thy kingly brow, is neither here <br /> Nor there. <br /> <br /> But in men's hearts shall be thy throne, <br /> While the great pulse of England beats. <br /> Thou coiner of a word unknown <br /> To Keats! <br /> <br /> And nevermore must printer do <br /> As men did long ago; but run <br /> "For" into "ever," bidding two <br /> Be one. <br /> <br /> "Forever"! passion-fraught, it throws <br /> O'er the dim page a gloom, a glamour: <br /> It's sweet, it's strange; and I suppose <br /> It's grammar. <br /> <br /> "Forever"! 'Tis a single word! <br /> And yet our fathers deemed it two: <br /> Nor am I confident they erred; <br /> Are you?<br /><br />Charles Stuart Calverley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/forever-6/
