I say in love farewell.
I shared in love to you,
My thoughts and all my feelings,
Words my dreams outgrew.
I saw your beauty with eyes
That pity a blind man’s fate
For missing your heart’s radiance
That I will never shake.
I speak of twenty Helens,
Props to Marlowe and Poe,
But nothing else can match
The beauty with you I knew.
Interesting that it is sad but also light hearted. Is it saying I really don’t believe what I am saying?
The slant rhyme of 'knew' vs using the obvious rhyme of 'know' denotes a sadness with deviation from perfection.
The poet is attempting to reflect on a love affair that did not work out, and he was very sad at the time, but in retrospect it worked out just fine, as she would not have been a good life partner. Seeing how they both turned out they would not have been compatible.
Two great people just not great together.
