Our Hearts Are Married, But We Are Too Young

Our Hearts Are Married, But We Are Too Young (1918)
by George Orwell
134411Our Hearts Are Married, But We Are Too Young1918George Orwell

OUR MINDS are married, but we are too young
    For wedlock by the customs of this age
    When parent homes pen each in separte cage
And only supper-earning songs are sung.

Times past, when medieval woods were green,
    Babes were betrothed, and that betrothal brief.
    Remember Romeo in love and grief—
Those star-crossed lovers—Juliet was fourteen.

Times past, the caveman by his new-found fire
    Rested beside his mate in woodsmoke’s scent.
    By our own fireside we shall rest content
Fifty years hence keep troth with hearts desire.

We shall remember, when our hair is white,
These clouded days revealed in radiant light.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1950, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 73 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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