O that ‘twere possible

 

          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. 

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G. R. Kanwal

24 July 2023