Ten years together without yet a cloud,
They seek each other’s eyes at intervals
Of gratefulness to firelight and four walls
For love’s obliteration of the crowd.
Serenely and perennially endowed
And bowered as few may be, their joy recalls
No snake, no sword; and over them there falls
The blessing of what neither says aloud.

Wiser for silence, they were not so glad
Were she to read the graven tale of lines
On the wan face of one somewhere alone;
Nor were they more content could he have had
Her thoughts a moment since of one who shines
Apart, and would be hers if he had known.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem Firelight

1 Comment

  1. Rob says:

    A long-married couple is sitting in comfortable silence. It would not be a comfortable silence if they were to share their innermost thoughts about past loves. Perhaps they think about what it would have been like if they had married the other and were sitting in the romantic firelight with them? For a long and satisfactory marriage, these thoughts should be kept and enjoyed in private.

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