O
that ‘twere possible
O THAT ‘twere possible
After long grief and pain
To find the arms of my true love
Round me once again! …
A shadow flits before me,
Not thee, but like to thee:
Ah, Christ ! that it were possible
For one short hour to see
The souls we loved, that they might
tell us
What and where they be!
This
is a very short poem by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92). AS Arthur
Compton Rickett says there is no other poet who more completely reflects in his
verse the questions that were agitating the minds of the average Englishman in
Victorian times.
The question here is the poet’s
reunion with his lady love whose separation has caused him long grief and pain.
The arms he wishes to find again are of that true love who is no longer in this
world.
He sees her as a shadow
but not as the real self. He then prays
to Lord Christ could He make it possible for bereaved people to see for one
short hour the souls they loved and know from them where and in what form they
currently are. This appears impossible to the poet, hence he entitles his poem : O that ‘were possible.
*********
G. R. Kanwal
24 July 2023