Scottish Poetry Selection
- Introspective

The arrival of Walter Wingate's first child gives him a new perspective.


     Introspective

I used to wonder if I really loved
     The old companions that I thought so dear;
For now that change has set us far removed
     I miss them less than they would care to hear.

I welcome them as kindly to my door;
     I visit them with pleasure: yet confess,
My visits, more infrequent than before,
     Prove them less needful to my happiness.

I used to wonder if the warmer flame
     That ever made romance for maids and men,
Were but a brief delirium that came,
     Burned itself cold, and left me sane again.

We loved each other fondly, she and I;
     But I have ceased to feel the meeting thrill;
I leave her now without the parting sigh;
     We sit together, and my pulse is still.

I used to wonder, in a gentle way,
     If nature, to divide the parting grief,
Has taught us to prepare for life's decay
     And shed our old affections leaf by leaf.

But two young eyes, a pair of pattering feet
     Have taught me otherwise: for in my heart
This newest love but makes my round complete,
     And in its warmth all older loves have part.

Return to the Index of Walter Wingate Poems or the General Index of Scottish Poetry



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