by
Poet's Day

True to You

True to You
by
Poet's Day

This week’s poem is Hinterhof by James Fenton and I have chosen it for Kelly and Scott, who got married last weekend and very kindly invited me to join their celebrations.

Stay near to me, stay true to me. I’ll stay
As near, as true to you as heart could pray.

James Fenton (1943—)

Poem 236. Hinterhof

Stay near to me and I'll stay near to you —
As near as you are dear to me will do,
    Near as the rainbow to the rain,
    The west wind to the windowpane,
As fire to the hearth, as dawn to dew.
Stay true to me and I'll stay true to you —
As true as you are new to me will do,
    New as the rainbow in the spray,
    Utterly new in every way,
New in the way that what you say is true.
Stay near to me, stay true to me. I'll stay
As near, as true to you as heart could pray.
    Heart never hoped that one might be
    Half of the things you are to me —
The dawn, the fire, the rainbow and the day.

This is a beautiful love poem that seems to me rather like the vows exchanged in a marriage ceremony.

The first stanza emphasises the need for proximity with a list of figurative measurements: the strength of the narrator’s feelings for their lover; the association between rainbows and rain, the wind on a window, the fire in the hearth, the dew and the dawn. All these pairs of ideas are so closely linked that the implication is that the lover should remain intimately close.

The second stanza speaks of remaining true to one another though new facets of the relationship continually emerge like the rainbow from a spray of water. I find the fifth line rather mystifying—perhaps it suggests that the previous relationship ended in a falsehood. In any case, the implication is that this new relationship is based on a trust that has not been and won’t be betrayed.

The third stanza brings the two ideas together: mutual physical proximity and honesty. The stanza ends by admitting that the lover means so much more than the narrator could had expected: “Heart never hoped that one might be/Half of the things you are to me—” and likening them to four things that have their own beauty: “The dawn, the fire, the rainbow and the day.”

I like this poem because of the language: the way Fenton uses things that are closely associated because of their nature: rainbows and rain, the wind on the windowpane and so on. I enjoy the way he uses rhyme within the lines (near and dear in “As near as you are dear to me will do,” for example) as well as at the end. I love the last three lines of the poem which I’ve used before in writing about Nicola, and I like the way that the idea of the beauty of the rainbow runs through the poem.

I wish Kelly and Scott every happiness and a long and fulfilling life together.

Links