Literary Critic Reponse to "it may not always be so; and i say"

it may not always be so; and i say

it may not always be so; and i say
that if your lips, which i have loved, should touch
antoher’s, and your dear strong fingers clutch
his heart, as mine in time not far away;
if on another’s face your sweet hair lay
in such a silence as i know, or such
great writhing words as, uttering overmuch,
stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;

if this should be, i say if this should be-
you of my heart, send mea little word;
that i may go unto him, and take his hands
saying, Accept all the happiness from me.
Then shall i turn my face, and hear one bird
sing terriblly afar in the most lands.


Literary Critic:

In the poem “it may not always be so; and i say” the author express his pessimistic expectance of the love he shares with his lover. He expects that one day the love they use to share will no longer be in existence. Until that day of unrequited love, he realizes that she may fall in love with somebody else and asks for her to tell him. If she is to belong to somebody else that way she was once his, he begs her to “send me a little word.” He wants to acknowledge to her new lover the happiness they once shared and that he is to in the future hopefully experience with her. Even though he does not seem to have any antagonistic feelings towards her new lover, he will still experience grief in his moments without her for when his face turns he’ll “hear one bird/ sing terribly afar in the most lands.” Losing her will be a heartache to him but he will understand the circumstances. Through the use of end rhyme and selectivity of words, the author is effective in demonstrating his sorrow yet comprehensive feelings towards losing a woman he is to love with all his heart to another man. He uses end rhyme thoughout the poem (that if your lips, which i have loved, should touch/ another’s, and your dearr strong fingers clutch) to make the poem read smoothly. I noticed that the first stanza uses a different rhyming scheme than the second, which I am not sure if it was done intentionally for thematical reasons. All together, the sad love poem is effective in convey the message of accepting unrequited love.