Departure
By Coventry Patmore. 1823–1896
IT was not like your great and gracious ways!
Do you, that have naught other to lament,
Never, my Love, repent
Of how, that July afternoon,
You went,
With sudden, unintelligible phrase,
And frighten'd eye,
Upon your journey of so many days
Without a single kiss, or a good-bye?
I knew, indeed, that you were parting soon;
And so we sate, within the low sun's rays,
You whispering to me, for your voice was weak,
Your harrowing praise.
Well, it was well
To hear you such things speak,
And I could tell
What made your eyes a growing gloom of love,
As a warm South-wind sombres a March grove.
And it was like your great and gracious ways
To turn your talk on daily things, my Dear,
Lifting the luminous, pathetic lash
To let the laughter flash,
Whilst I drew near,
Because you spoke so low that I could scarcely hear.
But all at once to leave me at the last,
More at the wonder than the loss aghast,
With huddled, unintelligible phrase,
And frighten'd eye,
And go your journey of all days
With not one kiss, or a good-bye,
And the only loveless look, the look with which you pass'd:
'Twas all unlike your great and gracious ways.
•“Departure,” by Coventry Patmore, is a poem about a loved one leaving. While this poem could be directed toward a lover, I believe it could also be about a parent leaving a child, and the child’s disappointment. I immediately thought about connections for life when I read this poem. I believe a child of one of the women in the program could easily relate to the sadness and tension described by Patmore in “Departure.” The author describes how suddenly and unexpectedly his loved one left him and how shocked he is. He uses many images describing the loved one I believe the last 4 lines relate the most strongly with Connections for Life and our theme:
And go your journey of all days
With not one kiss, or a good-bye,
And the only loveless look, the look with which you pass'd:
'Twas all unlike your great and gracious ways.
•Patmore is saying that his loved one left without even telling him bye, and says how that is completely unlike the wonderful, revered person he once knew. Patmore obviously loved this person very much, just as many children who have mothers locked away in jail do; however, said loved one and children are both very disappointed with how their loved one so abruptly abandoned them.
