The Post-marital love

Pope (1886)I cannot hide this pain of mine, yet shame restrainsWhen I would tell it out to him who caused my pains

MeaningI cannot conceal this pain, nor can I relate it without shame to him who has caused it

Pope (1886)My soul, like porter's pole, within my wearied frame, Sustains a two-fold burthen poised, of love and shame

Meaning(Both) lust and shame, with my soul for their shoulder pole balance themselves on a body that cannot bear them

Pope (1886)A sea of love, 'tis true, I see stretched out before, But not the trusty bark that wafts to yonder shore

MeaningThere is indeed a flood of lust; but there is no raft of safety to cross it with

Pope (1886)Who work us woe in friendship's trustful hour, What will they prove when angry tempests lower

MeaningWhat will they prove when angry tempests lower?

Pope (1886)A happy love 's sea of joy; but mightier sorrows rollFrom unpropitious love athwart the troubled soul

MeaningThe pleasure of lust is (as great as) the sea; but the pain of lust is far greater

Pope (1886)I swim the cruel tide of love, and can no shore descry, In watches of the night, too, 'mid the waters, only I

MeaningI have swam across the terrible flood of lust, but have not seen its shore; even at midnight I am alone; still I live

Pope (1886)All living souls in slumber soft she steeps; But me alone kind night for her companing keeps

MeaningThe night which graciously lulls to sleep all living creatures, has me alone for her companion

Pope (1886)More cruel than the cruelty of him, the cruel one, In these sad times are lengthening hours of night I watch alone

MeaningThe long nights of these days are far more cruel than the heartless one who is torturing me

Pope (1886)When eye of mine would as my soul go forth to him, It knows not how through floods of its own tears to swim

MeaningCould mine eyes travel like my thoughts to the abode (of my absent lord), they would not swim in this flood of tears

Pope (1886)How glancing eyes, that rash unweeting looked that day, With sorrow measureless are wasting now away

MeaningThe dyed eyes that (then) looked without foresight, why should they now endure sorrow, without feeling sharply (their own fault)

Pope (1886)The eyes that threw such eager glances round erewhileAre weeping now. Such folly surely claims a smile

MeaningThey themselves looked eagerly (on him) and now they weep. Is not this to be laughed at ?

Pope (1886)Those eyes have wept till all the fount of tears is dry, That brought upon me pain that knows no remedy

MeaningThese painted eyes have caused me a lasting mortal disease; and now they can weep no more, the tears having dried up

Pope (1886)The eye that wrought me more than sea could hold of woes, Is suffering pangs that banish all repose

MeaningMine eyes have caused me a lust that is greater than the sea and (they themselves) endure the torture of sleeplessness

Pope (1886)Oho! how sweet a thing to see! the eyeThat wrought this pain, in the same gulf doth lie

MeaningThe eyes that have given me this disease have themselves been seized with this (suffering) Oh! I am much delighted

Pope (1886)Aching, aching, let those exhaust their stream, That melting, melting, that day gazed on him

MeaningThe eyes that became tender and gazed intently on him, may they suffer so much as to dry up the fountain of their tears

Pope (1886)Who loved me once, onloving now doth here remain; Not seeing him, my eye no rest can gain

MeaningHe is indeed here who loved me with his lips but not with his heart but mine eyes suffer from not seeing him

Pope (1886)When he comes not, all slumber flies; no sleep when he is there; Thus every way my eyes have troubles hard to bear

MeaningWhen he is away they do not sleep; when he is present they do not sleep; in either case, mine eyes endure unbearable agony

Pope (1886)It is not hard for all the town the knowledge to obtain, When eyes, as mine, like beaten tambours, make the mystery plain

MeaningIt is not difficult for the people of this place to understand the secret of those whose eyes, like mine, are as it were beaten drums

Pope (1886)'He gave': this sickly hue thus proudly speaks, Then climbs, and all my frame its chariot makes

MeaningSallowness, as if proud of having been caused by him, would now ride on my person

Pope (1886)Of comeliness and shame he me bereft, While pain and sickly hue, in recompense, he left

MeaningHe has taken (away) my beauty and modesty, and given me instead disease and sallowness

Pope (1886)I meditate his words, his worth is theme of all I say, This sickly hue is false that would my trust betray

MeaningI think (of him); and what I speak about is but his excellence; still is there sallowness; and this is deceitful

Pope (1886)My lover there went forth to roam; This pallor of my frame usurps his place at home

MeaningJust as my lover departed then, did not sallowness spread here on my person ?

Pope (1886)As darkness waits till lamp expires, to fill the place, This pallor waits till I enjoy no more my lord's embrace

MeaningJust as darkness waits for the failing light; so does sallowness wait for the laxity of my husband's intercourse

Pope (1886)I lay in his embrace, I turned unwittingly; Forthwith this hue, as you might grasp it, came on me

MeaningI who was in close embrace just turned aside and the moment I did so, sallowness came on me like something to be seized on

Pope (1886)On me, because I pine, they cast a slur; But no one says, 'He first deserted her.'

MeaningBesides those who say "she has turned sallow" there are none who say "he has forsaken her"

Pope (1886)Well let my frame, as now, be sicklied o'er with pain, If he who won my heart's consent, in good estate remain

MeaningIf he is clear of guilt who has conciliated me (to his departure) let my body suffer its due and turn sallow

Pope (1886)'Tis well, though men deride me for my sickly hue of pain; If they from calling him unkind, who won my love, refrain

MeaningIt would be good to be said of me that I have turned sallow, if friends do not reproach with unkindness him who pleased me (then)

Pope (1886)As heaven on living men showers blessings from above, Is tender grace by lovers shown to those they love

MeaningThe bestowal of love by the beloved on those who love them is like the rain raining (at the proper season) on those who live by it

Pope (1886)Who love and are beloved to them aloneBelongs the boast, 'We've made life's very joys our own.'

MeaningThe pride that says "we shall live" suits only those who are loved by their beloved (husbands)

Pope (1886)Those well-beloved will luckless prove, Unless beloved by those they love

MeaningEven those who are esteemed (by other women) are devoid of excellence, if they are not loved by their beloved

Pope (1886)From him I love to me what gain can be, Unless, as I love him, he loveth me

MeaningHe who is beloved by me, what will he do to me, if I am not beloved by him ?

Pope (1886)Love on one side is bad; like balanced loadBy porter borne, love on both sides is good

MeaningLust, like the weight of the KAVADI, pains if it lies in one end only but pleases if it is in both

Pope (1886)While Kaman rushes straight at me alone, Is all my pain and wasting grief unknown

MeaningWould not cupid who abides and contends in one party (only) witness the pain and sorrow (in that party)?

Pope (1886)Who hear from lover's lips no pleasant word from day to day, Yet in the world live out their life,- no braver souls than they

MeaningThere is no one in the world so hard-hearted as those who can live without receiving (even) a kind word from their beloved

Pope (1886)Though he my heart desires no grace accords to me, Yet every accent of his voice is melody

MeaningThough my beloved bestows no love on one, still are his words sweet to my ears

Pope (1886)Tell him thy pain that loves not thee?Farewell, my soul, fill up the sea

MeaningLive, O my soul, would you who relate your great sorrow to strangers, try rather to fill up your own sea (of sorrow)

Pope (1886)How great is love! Behold its sweetness past belief!Think on the lover, and the spirit knows no grief

MeaningEven to think of one's beloved gives one no pain Sexuality, in any degree, is always delightful

Pope (1886)A fit of sneezing threatened, but it passed away; He seemed to think of me, but do his fancies stray

MeaningI feel as if I am going to sneeze but do not, and (therefore) my beloved is about to think (of me) but does not

Pope (1886)Have I a place within his heart!From mine, alas! he never doth depart

MeaningHe continues to abide in my soul, do I likewise abide in his ?

Pope (1886)Me from his heart he jealously excludes:Hath he no shame who ceaseless on my heart intrudes

MeaningHe who has imprisoned me in his soul, is he ashamed to enter incessantly into mine

Pope (1886)How live I yet? I live to ponder o'erThe days of bliss with him that are no more

MeaningI live by remembering my (former) intercourse with him; if it were not so, how could I live ?

Pope (1886)If I remembered not what were I then? And yet, The fiery smart of what my spirit knows not to forget

MeaningI have never forgotten (the pleasure); even to think of it burns my soul; could I live, if I should ever forget it ?

Pope (1886)My frequent thought no wrath excites It is not so?This honour doth my love on me bestow

MeaningHe will not be angry however much I may think of him; is it not so much the delight my beloved

Pope (1886)Dear life departs, when his ungracious deeds I ponder o'er, Who said erewhile, 'We're one for evermore'

MeaningMy precious life is wasting away by thinking too much on the cruelty of him who said we were not different

Pope (1886)Set not; so may'st thou prosper, moon! that eyes may seeMy love who went away, but ever bides with me

MeaningMay you live, O Moon! Do not set, that I mine see him who has departed without quitting my soul

Pope (1886)If my dark, carp-like eye will close in sleep, as I implore, The tale of my long-suffering life I'll tell my loved one o'er

MeaningIf my fish-like painted eyes should, at my begging, close in sleep, I could fully relate my sufferings to my lord

Pope (1886)Him, who in waking hour no kindness shows, In dreams I see; and so my lifetime goes

MeaningMy life lasts because in my dream I behold him who does not favour me in my waking hours

Pope (1886)Some pleasure I enjoy when him who loves not meIn waking hours, the vision searches out and makes me see

MeaningThere is pleasure in my dream, because in it I seek and obtain him who does not visit me in my wakefulness

Pope (1886)As what I then beheld in waking hour was sweet, So pleasant dreams in hour of sleep my spirit greet

MeaningI saw him in my waking hours, and then it was pleasant; I see him just now in my dream, and it is (equally) pleasant

Pope (1886)And if there were no waking hour, my loveIn dreams would never from my side remove

MeaningWere there no such thing as wakefulness, my beloved (who visited me) in my dream would not depart from me

Pope (1886)The cruel one, in waking hour, who all ungracious seems, Why should he thus torment my soul in nightly dreams

MeaningThe cruel one who would not favour me in my wakefulness, what right has he to torture me in my dreams?

Pope (1886)And when I sleep he holds my form embraced; And when I wake to fill my heart makes haste

MeaningWhen I am asleep he rests on my shoulders, (but) when I awake he hastens into my soul

Pope (1886)In dreams who ne'er their lover's form perceive, For those in waking hours who show no love will grieve

MeaningThey who have no dear ones to behold in their dreams blame him who visits me not in my waking hours

Pope (1886)They say, that he in waking hours has left me lone; In dreams they surely see him not,- these people of the town;

MeaningThe women of this place say he has forsaken me in my wakefulness I think they have not seen him visit me in my dreams

Pope (1886)Thine eye is sad; Hail, doubtful hour of eventide!Of cruel eye, as is my spouse, is too thy bride

MeaningA long life to you, O dark evening! You are sightless Is your help-mate (also) as hard-hearted as mine

Pope (1886)With buds of chilly dew wan evening's shade enclose; My anguish buds space and all my sorrow grows

MeaningThe evening that (once) came in with trembling and dimness (now) brings me an aversion for life and increasing sorrow

Pope (1886)When absent is my love, the evening hour descends, As when an alien host to field of battle wends

MeaningIn the absence of my lover, evening comes in like slayers on the field of slaughter

Pope (1886)O morn, how have I won thy grace? thou bring'st reliefO eve, why art thou foe! thou dost renew my grief

MeaningO eve, why art thou foe! thou dost renew my grief

Pope (1886)The pangs that evening brings I never knew, Till he, my wedded spouse, from me withdrew

MeaningPrevious to my husband's departure, I know not the painful nature of evening

Pope (1886)My grief at morn a bud, all day an opening flower, Full-blown expands in evening hour

MeaningThis malady buds forth in the morning, expands all day long and blossoms in the evening

Pope (1886)The shepherd's pipe is like a murderous weapon, to my ear, For it proclaims the hour of ev'ning's fiery anguish near

MeaningThe shepherd's flute now sounds as a fiery forerunner of night, and is become a weapon that slays (me)

Pope (1886)If evening's shades, that darken all my soul, extend; From this afflicted town will would of grief ascend

MeaningWhen night comes on confusing (everyone's) mind, the (whole) town will lose its sense and be plunged in sorrow

Pope (1886)This darkening eve, my darkling soul must perish utterly; Remembering him who seeks for wealth, but seeks not me

MeaningMy (hitherto) unextinguished life is now lost in this bewildering night at the thought of him who has the nature of wealth

Pope (1886)The eye, with sorrow wan, all wet with dew of tears, As witness of the lover's lack of love appears

MeaningThe discoloured eyes that shed tears profusely seem to betray the unkindness of our beloved

Pope (1886)These withered arms, desertion's pangs abundantly display, That swelled with joy on that glad nuptial day

MeaningThe shoulders that swelled on the day of our union (now) seem to announce our separation clearly (to the public)

Pope (1886)When lover went, then faded all their wonted charms, And armlets' golden round slips off from these poor wasted arms

MeaningIn the absence of your consort, your shoulders having lost their former beauty and fulness, your bracelets of pure gold have become loose

Pope (1886)These wasted arms, the bracelet with their wonted beauty gone, The cruelty declare of that most cruel one

MeaningThe (loosened) bracelets, and the shoulders from which the old beauty has faded, relate the cruelty of the pitiless one

Pope (1886)I grieve, 'tis pain to me to hear him cruel chid, Because the armlet from my wasted arm has slid

MeaningI am greatly pained to hear you call him a cruel man, just because your shoulders are reduced and your bracelets loosened

Pope (1886)My heart! say ought of glory wilt thou gain, If to that cruel one thou of thy wasted arms complain

MeaningCan you O my soul! gain glory by relating to the (so-called) cruel one the clamour of my fading shoulders?

Pope (1886)One day the fervent pressure of embracing arms I checked, Grew wan the forehead of the maid with golden armlet decked

MeaningWhen I once loosened the arms that were in embrace, the forehead of the gold-braceleted women turned sallow

Pope (1886)As we embraced a breath of wind found entrance there; The maid's large liquid eyes were dimmed with care

MeaningWhen but a breath of breeze penetrated our embrace, her large cool eyes became sallow

Pope (1886)The dimness of her eye felt sorrow now, Beholding what was done by that bright brow

MeaningWas it at the sight of what the bright forehead had done that the sallowness of her eyes became sad?

Pope (1886)Since he loves not, thy smartIs folly, fare thee well my heart

MeaningIs folly, fare thee well my heart!

Pope (1886)What comes of sitting here in pining thought, O heart? He knowsNo pitying thought, the cause of all these wasting woes

MeaningO my soul! why remain (here) and suffer thinking (of him)? There are no lewd thoughts (of you) in him who has caused you this disease of sorrow

Pope (1886)O rid me of these eyes, my heart; for they, Longing to see him, wear my life away

MeaningO my soul! take my eyes also with you, (if not), these would eat me up (in their desire) to see him

Pope (1886)O heart, as a foe, can I abandon utterlyHim who, though I long for him, longs not for me

MeaningO my soul! can he who loves not though he is beloved, be forsaken saying he hates me (now)?

Pope (1886)My heart, false is the fire that burns; thou canst not wrath maintain, If thou thy love behold, embracing, soothing all thy pain

MeaningO my soul! when you see the dear one who remove dislike by intercourse, you are displeased and continue to be so Nay, your displeasure is (simply) false

Pope (1886)Or bid thy love, or bid thy shame depart; For me, I cannot bear them both, my worthy heart

MeaningO my good soul, give up either lust or honour, as for me I can endure neither

Pope (1886)Thou art befooled, my heart, thou followest him who flees from thee; And still thou yearning criest: 'He will nor pity show nor love to me.'

MeaningYou are a fool, O my soul! to go after my departed one, while you mourn that he is not kind enough to favour you

Pope (1886)My heart! my lover lives within my mind; Roaming, whom dost thou think to find

MeaningO my soul! to whom would you repair, while the dear one is within yourself?

Pope (1886)If I should keep in mind the man who utterly renounces me, My soul must suffer further loss of dignity

MeaningIf I retain in my heart him who has left me without befriending me, I shall lose even the (inward) beauty that remains

Pope (1886)What men call love is the one thing of merciless power; It gives my soul no rest, e'en in the midnight hour

MeaningEven at midnight is my mind worried by lust, and this one thing, alas! is without mercy

Pope (1886)I would my love conceal, but like a sneezeIt shows itself, and gives no warning sign

MeaningI would conceal my lust, but alas, it yields not to my will but breaks out like a sneeze

Pope (1886)In womanly reserve I deemed myself beyond assail; But love will come abroad, and casts away the veil

MeaningI say I would be firm, but alas, my malady breaks out from its concealment and appears in public

Pope (1886)The dignity that seeks not him who acts as foe, Is the one thing that loving heart can never know

MeaningThe dignity that would not go after an absent lover is not known to those who are sticken by love

Pope (1886)My grief how full of grace, I pray you see!It seeks to follow him that hateth me

MeaningThe sorrow I have endured by desiring to go after my absent lover, in what way is it excellent?

Pope (1886)No sense of shame my gladdened mind shall prove, When he returns my longing heart to bless with love

MeaningI know nothing like shame when my beloved does from love (just) what is desired (by me)

Pope (1886)The words of that deceiver, versed in every wily art, Are instruments that break through every guard of woman's heart

MeaningAre not the enticing words of my trick-abounding roguish lover the weapon that breaks away my feminine firmness?

Pope (1886)'I 'll shun his greeting'; saying thus with pride away I went:I held him in my arms, for straight I felt my heart relent

MeaningI said I would feign dislike and so went (away); (but) I embraced him the moment I say my mind began to unite with him!

Pope (1886)'We 'll stand aloof and then embrace': is this for them to say, Whose hearts are as the fat that in the blaze dissolves away

MeaningIs it possible for those whose hearts melt like fat in the fire to say they can feign a strong dislike and remain so?

Pope (1886)O thou with gleaming jewels decked, could I forget for this one day, Henceforth these bracelets from my arms will slip, my beauty worn away

MeaningO you bright-jewelled maid, if I forget (him) today, my shoulders will lose their beauty even in the other life and make my bracelets loose

Pope (1886)On victory intent, His mind sole company he went; And I yet life sustain And long to see his face again

MeaningI still live by longing for the arrival of him who has gone out of love for victory and with valour as his guide

Pope (1886)'He comes again, who left my side, and I shall taste love's joy,'-My heart with rapture swells, when thoughts like these my mind employ

MeaningMy heart is rid of its sorrow and swells with rapture to think of my absent lover returning with his love

Pope (1886)O let me see my spouse again and sate these longing eyes!That instant from my wasted frame all pallor flies

MeaningMay I look on my lover till I am satisfied and thereafter will vanish the sallowness of my slender shoulders

Pope (1886)O let my spouse but come again to me one day!I'll drink that nectar: wasting grief shall flee away

MeaningMay my husband return some day; and then will I enjoy (him) so as to destroy all this agonizing sorrow

Pope (1886)Shall I draw back, or yield myself, or shall both mingled be, When he returns, my spouse, dear as these eyes to me

MeaningOn the return of him who is as dear as my eyes, am I displeased or am I to embrace (him); or am I to do both?

Pope (1886)O would my king would fight, o'ercome, devide the spoil; At home, to-night, the banquet spread should crown the toil

MeaningLet the king fight and gain (victories); (but) let me be united to my wife and feast the evening

Pope (1886)One day will seem like seven to those who watch and yearnFor that glad day when wanderers from afar return

MeaningTo those who suffer waiting for the day of return of their distant lovers one day is as long as seven days

Pope (1886)What's my return, the meeting hour, the wished-for greeting worth, If she heart-broken lie, with all her life poured forth

MeaningAfter (my wife) has died of a broken heart, what good will there be if she is to receive me, has received me, or has even embraced me?

Pope (1886)The simple one whose beauty fills mine eye, whose shoulders curveLike bambu stem, hath all a woman's modest sweet reserve

MeaningUnusually great is the female simplicity of your maid whose beauty fills my eyes and whose shoulders resemble the bamboo

Pope (1886)As through the crystal beads is seen the thread on which they 're strungSo in her beauty gleams some thought cannot find a tongue

MeaningThere is something that is implied in the beauty of this woman, like the thread that is visible in a garland of gems

Pope (1886)As fragrance in the opening bud, some secret liesConcealed in budding smile of this dear damsel's eyes

MeaningThere is something in the unmatured smile of this maid like the fragrance that is contained in an unblossomed bud

Pope (1886)The secret wiles of her with thronging armlets decked, Are medicines by which my raising grief is checked

MeaningThe well-meant departure of her whose bangles are tight-fitting contains a remedy that can cure my great sorrow

Pope (1886)While lovingly embracing me, his heart is only grieved:It makes me think that I again shall live of love bereaved

MeaningThe embrace that fills me with comfort and gladness is capable of enduring (my former) sorrow and meditating on his want of love

Pope (1886)My severance from the lord of this cool shore, My very armlets told me long before

MeaningMy bracelets have understood before me the (mental) separation of him who rules the cool seashore

Pope (1886)My loved one left me, was it yesterday?Days seven my pallid body wastes away

MeaningIt was but yesterday my lover departed (from me); and it is seven days since my complexion turned sallow

Pope (1886)She viewed her tender arms, she viewed the armlets from them slid; She viewed her feet: all this the lady did

MeaningShe looked at her bracelets, her tender shoulders, and her feet; this was what she did there (significantly)

Pope (1886)To show by eye the pain of love, and for relief to pray, Is womanhood's most womanly device, men say

MeaningTo express their love-sickness by their eyes and resort to begging bespeaks more than ordinary female excellence

Pope (1886)When as palmyra tall, fulness of perfect love we gain, Distrust can find no place small as the millet grain

MeaningIf women have a lust that exceeds even the measure of the palmyra fruit, they will not desire (to feign) dislike even as much as the millet

Pope (1886)Although his will his only law, he lightly value me, My heart knows no repose unless my lord I see

MeaningThough my eyes disregard me and do what is pleasing to my husband, still will they not be satisfied unless they see him

Pope (1886)My friend, I went prepared to show a cool disdain; My heart, forgetting all, could not its love restrain

MeaningMy heart, forgetting all, could not its love restrain

Pope (1886)The eye sees not the rod that paints it; nor can ISee any fault, when I behold my husband nigh

MeaningLike the eyes which see not the pencil that paints it, I cannot see my husband's fault (just) when I meet him

Pope (1886)When him I see, to all his faults I 'm blind; But when I see him not, nothing but faults I find

MeaningWhen I see my husband, I do not see any faults; but when I do not see him, I do not see anything but faults

Pope (1886)As those of rescue sure, who plunge into the stream, So did I anger feign, though it must falsehood seem

MeaningLike those who leap into a stream which they know will carry them off, why should a wife feign dislike which she knows cannot hold out long?

Pope (1886)Though shameful ill it works, dear is the palm-tree wineTo drunkards; traitor, so to me that breast of thine

MeaningO you rogue! your breast is to me what liquor is to those who rejoice in it, though it only gives them an unpleasant disgrace

Pope (1886)Love is tender as an opening flower In season dueTo gain its perfect bliss is rapture known to few

MeaningSexual delight is more delicate than a flower, and few are those who understand its real nature

Pope (1886)Her eye, as I drew nigh one day, with anger shone:By love o'erpowered, her tenderness surpassed my own

MeaningShe once feigned dislike in her eyes, but the warmth of her embrace exceeded my own

Pope (1886)'Tis plain, my heart, that he 's estranged from thee; Why go to him as though he were not enemy

MeaningO my soul! although you have known him who does not love me, still do you go to him, saying "he will not be displeased."

Pope (1886)'The ruined have no friends, 'they say; and so, my heart, To follow him, at thy desire, from me thou dost depart

MeaningO my soul! do you follow him at pleasure under the belief that the ruined have no friends?

Pope (1886)'See, thou first show offended pride, and then submit,' I bade; Henceforth such council who will share with thee my heart

MeaningO my soul! you would not first seem sulky and then enjoy (him); who then would in future consult you about such things?

Pope (1886)I fear I shall not gain, I fear to lose him when I gain; And thus my heart endures unceasing pain

MeaningMy soul fears when it is without him; it also fears when it is with him; it is subject to incessant sorrow

Pope (1886)My heart consumes me when I ponder lone, And all my lover's cruelty bemoan

MeaningMy mind has been (here) in order to eat me up (as it were) whenever I think of him in my solitude

Pope (1886)Fall'n 'neath the sway of this ignoble foolish heart, Which will not him forget, I have forgotten shame

MeaningI have even forgotten my modesty, having been caught in my foolish mind which is not dignified enough to forget him

Pope (1886)If I contemn him, then disgrace awaits me evermore; My soul that seeks to live his virtues numbers o'er

MeaningMy soul which clings to life thinks only of his (own) gain in the belief that it would be disgraceful for it to despise him

Pope (1886)And who will aid me in my hour of grief, If my own heart comes not to my relief

MeaningWho would help me out of one's distress, when one's own soul refuses help to one?

Pope (1886)A trifle is unfriendliness by aliens shown, When our own heart itself is not our own

MeaningIt is hardly possible for strangers to behave like relations, when one's own soul acts like a stranger

Pope (1886)A cool reserve is like the salt that seasons well the mess, Too long maintained, 'tis like the salt's excess

MeaningA little dislike is like salt in proportion; to prolong it a little is like salt a little too much

Pope (1886)'Tis heaping griefs on those whose hearts are grieved; To leave the grieving one without a fond embrace

MeaningFor men not to embrace those who have feigned dislike is like torturing those already in agony

Pope (1886)To use no kind conciliating art when lover grieves, Is cutting out the root of tender winding plant that droops

MeaningNot to reconcile those who have feigned dislike is like cutting a faded creeper at its root

Pope (1886)Even to men of good and worthy mind, the petulanceOf wives with flowery eyes lacks not a lovely grace

MeaningAn increased shyness in those whose eyes are like flowers is beautiful even to good and virtuous husbands

Pope (1886)Love without hatred is ripened fruit; Without some lesser strife, fruit immature

MeaningSexual pleasure, without prolonged and short-lived dislike, is like too ripe, and unripe fruit

Pope (1886)A lovers' quarrel brings its pain, when mind afraidAsks doubtful, 'Will reunion sweet be long delayed?'

MeaningThe doubt as to whether intercourse would take place soon or not, creates a sorrow (even) in feigned dislike

Pope (1886)What good can grieving do, when none who loveAre there to know the grief thy soul endures

MeaningWhat avails sorrow when I am without a wife who can understand the cause of my sorrow?

Pope (1886)Water is pleasant in the cooling shade; So coolness for a time with those we love

MeaningLike water in the shade, dislike is delicious only in those who love

Pope (1886)Of her who leaves me thus in variance languishing, To think within my heart with love is fond desire

MeaningIt is nothing but strong desire that makes her mind unite with me who can leave her to her own dislike

Pope (1886)One day we silent sulked; he sneezed: The reason well I knew; He thought that I, to speak well pleased, Would say, 'Long life to you!'

MeaningWhen I continued to be sulky he sneezed and thought I would (then) wish him a long life

Pope (1886)I wreathed with flowers one day my brow, The angry tempest lowers; She cries, 'Pray, for what woman now Do you put on your flowers?'

MeaningEven if I were adorned with a garland of branch-flowers, she would say I did so to show it to another woman

Pope (1886)'I love you more than all beside,' 'T was thus I gently spoke;'What all, what all?' she instant cried; And all her anger woke

MeaningWhen I said I loved her more than any other woman, she said "more than others, yes, more than others," and remained sulky

Pope (1886)'While here I live, I leave you not,' I said to calm her fearsShe cried, 'There, then, I read your thought'; And straight dissolved in tears

MeaningWhen I said I would never part from her in this life her eyes were filled with tears

Pope (1886)'Each day I called to mind your charms,' 'O, then, you had forgot,'She cried, and then her opened arms, Forthwith embraced me not

MeaningWhen I said I had remembered her, she said I had forgotten her and relaxing her embrace, began to feign dislike

Pope (1886)She hailed me when I sneezed one day; But straight with anger seized, She cried; 'Who was the woman, pray, Thinking of whom you sneezed?'

MeaningWhen I sneezed she blessed me, but at once changed (her mind) and wept, asking, "At the thought of whom did you sneeze?"

Pope (1886)And so next time I checked my sneeze; She forthwith wept and cried,(That woman difficult to please), 'Your thoughts from me you hide'

MeaningWhen I suppressed my sneezing, she wept saying, "I suppose you (did so) to hide from me your own people's remembrance of you"

Pope (1886)I then began to soothe and coax, To calm her jealous mind;'I see', quoth she, 'to other folks How you are wondrous kind

Meaning'I see', quoth she, 'to other folks How you are wondrous kind' Even when I try to remove her dislike, she is displeased and says, "This is the way you behave

Pope (1886)I silent sat, but thought the more, And gazed on her Then sheCried out, 'While thus you eye me o'er, Tell me whose form you see'

MeaningEven when I look on her contemplating (her beauty), she is displeased and says, "With whose thought have you (thus) looked on my person?"

Pope (1886)My 'anger feigned' gives but a little pain; And when affection droops, it makes it bloom again

MeaningHis love will increase though it may (at first seem to) fade through the short-lived distress caused by (my) dislike

Pope (1886)Is there a bliss in any world more utterly divine, Than 'coyness' gives, when hearts as earth and water join

MeaningIs there a celestial land that can please like the feigned dislike of those whose union resembles that of earth and water?

Pope (1886)'Within the anger feigned' that close love's tie doth bind, A weapon lurks, which quite breaks down my mind

MeaningIn prolonged dislike after an embrace there is a weapon that can break my heart

Pope (1886)Though free from fault, from loved one's tender armsTo be estranged a while hath its own special charms

MeaningThough free from defects, men feel pleased when they cannot embrace the delicate shoulders of those whom they love

Pope (1886)'Tis sweeter to digest your food than 'tis to eat; In love, than union's self is anger feigned more sweet

MeaningTo digest what has been eaten is more delightful than to eat more; likewise love is more delightful in dislike than intercourse

Pope (1886)In lovers' quarrels, 'tis the one that first gives way, That in re-union's joy is seen to win the day

MeaningThose are conquerors whose dislike has been defeated and that is proved by the love (which

Pope (1886)And shall we ever more the sweetness know of that embraceWith dewy brow; to which 'feigned anger' lent its piquant grace

MeaningWill I enjoy once more through her dislike, the pleasure of that love that makes her forehead perspire?

Pope (1886)Let her, whose jewels brightly shine, aversion feignThat I may still plead on, O night, prolong thy reign

MeaningMay the bright-jewelled one feign dislike, and may the night be prolonged for me to implore her!

Pope (1886)A 'feigned aversion' coy to pleasure gives a zest; The pleasure's crowned when breast is clasped to breast

MeaningDislike adds delight to love; and a hearty embrace (thereafter) will add delight to dislike