To My Wife - With A Copy Of My Poems -- Oscar Wilde

Vikram Doctor writes "For no particularly clear
reasons, today's poem [Poem #1225] made me think of three others, each quite
different, but well worth carrying on the list."

I agree - the poems are very different, and yet all connected in some way to
Flecker's poem; they form a nice theme. So, back to Vikram, with the first
of his poems:

(Poem #1226) To My Wife - With A Copy Of My Poems I can write no stately proem As a prelude to my lay; From a poet to a poem I would dare to say. For if of these fallen petals One to you seem fair, Love will waft it till it settles On your hair. And when wind and winter harden All the loveless land, It will whisper of the garden, You will understand. -- Oscar Wilde

  proem: An introduction; a preface

The first was by Oscar Wilde, a very simple and
delicate poem to his wife. Its not very much, and in
less sure hands could be too mawkish or pretty. But
Wilde gets the balance just right, and the result is a
poem which I read just casually once, but its always
stayed with me.

Vikram

[Martin adds]

As Vikram says, the poem has a very light, delicate touch - I was reminded in
places of Teasdale. What particularly struck me was the way it kept getting
better with every line - it starts off conventionally enough, but by the time
it gets to the last verse, it is evident that Wilde has painted a softly
beautiful image with a few, precise strokes; and the last line is quietly and
hauntingly perfect.