A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment
Anne Bradstreet
1612 to 1672
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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The welcome house of him my dearest guest.
I here, thou there, yet both but one.
If but a neck, soon should we be together:
Within the Cancer of my glowing breast,
My chilled limbs now nummed lye forlorn;
His warmth such frigid colds did cause to melt.
Return, return sweet Sol from Capricorn;
So many steps, head from the heart to sever
True living Pictures of their Fathers face.
If two be one, as surely thou and I,
Which sweet contentment yield me for a space,
O strange effect! now thou art Southward gone,
Whom whilst I 'joy'd, nor storms, nor frosts I felt,
My joy, my Magazine of earthly store,
Where ever, ever stay, and go not thence,
Then view those fruits which through thy heat I bore?
My head, my heart, mine Eyes, my life, nay more,
Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone,
I weary grow, the tedious day so long;
Till natures sad decree shall call thee hence;
But when thou Northward to me shalt return,
My Sun is gone so far in's Zodiack,
In this dead time, alas, what can I more
How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lye?
I like the earth this season, mourn in black,
I wish my Sun may never set, but burn