I was at peace until you came <br />And set a careless mind aflame; <br />I lived in quiet; cold, content; <br />All longing in safe banishment, <br />Until your ghostly lips and eyes <br />Made wisdom unwise. <br /> <br />Naught was in me to tempt your feet <br />To seek a lodging. Quite forgot <br />Lay the sweet solitude we two <br />In childhood used to wander through; <br />Time's cold had closed my heart about, <br />And shut you out. <br /> <br />Well, and what then? . . . O vision grave, <br />Take all the little all I have! <br />Strip me of what in voiceless throught <br />Life's kept of life, unhoped, unsought! -- <br />Reverie and dream that memory must <br />Hide deep in dust! <br /> <br />This only I say: Though cold and bare, <br />The haunted house you have chosen to share, <br />Still 'neath its walls the moonbeam goes <br />And trembles on the untended rose; <br />Still o'er its broken roof-tree rise <br />The starry arches of the skies; <br />And 'neath your lightest word shall be <br />The thunder of an ebbing sea.<br /><br />Walter de la Mare<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-remonstrance/
