We have walked in Love's land a little way,
We have learnt his lesson a little while,
And shall we not part at the end of day,
With a sigh, a smile?
A little while in the shine of the sun,
We were twined together, joined lips forgot
How the shadows fall when day is done,
And when Love is not.
We have made no vows - there will none be broke,
Our love was free as the wind on the hill,
There was no word said we need wish unspoke,
We have wrought no ill.
So shall we not part at the end of day,
Who have loved and lingered a little while,
Join lips for the last time, go our way,
With a sigh, a smile.
The poem is very liberal for the time era. People were still church conscious and conscious of the writings.Reading was the past time, To touch a hand in a novel was very bold and considered a true act of love. Kissing is unheard of in writings less any further advances in that era or earlier. This in perspective, would have been like underground literature of the time.
Good read.simple and flowing.The Classical fling: 'We have made no vows, and there shall none be broke'
How does it go? - '' Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Love was free as the wind on the hill. Simply superb expression. Thanks for sharing it here.
Poem is OK but I don't like this kind of relationship. Sorry it is my personal view. I can't impose it on any of you.
A daring non-committed casual relationship with a woman, which could have been abhorred at his time, being a Catholic, perhaps. The need to love and be loved is evident from the loss of the woman (girl) he loved, and the tragic loss of his parents. Nonetheless, a great write. He could have written the poem while he was in love with the teenage girl.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
An April Love by Ernest Christopher Dowson is a beautifully written poem about a casual sexual encounter with no strings attached, ‘We have made no vows - there will none be broke, ’ and there is no expectation of a future meeting as ‘Join lips for the last time, go our way, ’ in the fourth last stanza clearly proves. This theme of a brief sexual fling was introduced in the first stanza with the question ‘And shall we not part at the end of day, / With a sigh, a smile? ’. Dowson defends this short walk in ‘Love's land’ with the last line of the first and fourth stanzas ‘With a sigh, a smile’ of satisfaction and happiness. Dowson’s entire third stanza is a defence of this love that breaks no vows or laws, ‘Our love was free... There was no word said we need wish unspoke, / We have wrought no ill.’ This love was ‘A little while in the shine of the sun, ’ an April Love of brief duration, which Dowson seems to imply, is a beautiful natural yet important experience.