It may have been the pride in me for aught
I know, or just a patronizing whim;
But call it freak of fancy, or what not,
I cannot hide the hungry face of him.
I keep a scant half-dozen words he said,
And every now and then I lose his name;
He may be living or he may be dead,
But I must have him with me all the same.
I knew it and I knew it all along,–
And felt it once or twice, or thought I did;
But only as a glad man feels a song
That sounds around a stranger’s coffin lid.
I knew it, and he knew it, I believe,
But silence held us alien to the end;
And I have now no magic to retrieve
That year, to stop that hunger for a friend.
(Edwin Arlington Robinson)
More Poetry from Edwin Arlington Robinson:
Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems based on Topics: Friendship, Name, Belief & Faith, Pride- Mr. Flood's Party (Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems)
- Sonnet 32: The Children of the Night (Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems)
- The Tree In Pamela's Garden (Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems)
- Bon Voyage (Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems)
- An Island (Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems)
- London Bridge (Edwin Arlington Robinson Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Friendship Poems, Name Poems, Belief & Faith Poems, Pride PoemsBased on Keywords: retrieve, freak, patronizing, half-dozen
- A Poem On The African Slave Trade. Addressed To Her Own Sex. Part II (Mary Birkett Card Poems)
- The Battle Of The Lake Regillus (Thomas Babbington Macaulay Poems)
- Fireflies (Rabindranath Tagore Poems)
- Kensington Garden (Thomas Tickell Poems)
- The Feast Of The Virgins - The Feast Of The Virgins (Hanford Lennox Gordon Poems)