An unpublished, untitled manuscript, a date at the bottom of the original copy (“May the 1st, 1827”) appears to have been written by someone other than Poe. The date is questionable for this reason. The poem, which may be incomplete, tells of the speaker’s unrequited love for Octavia being so strong, even “wit, and wine, and friends” can not distract him from it. Every throb of his heart, the narrator says, threatens to make his heart break for Octavia.
When wit, and wine, and friends have met
And laughter crowns the festive hour
In vain I struggle to forget
Still does my heart confess thy power
And fondly turn to thee!
But Octavia, do not strive to rob
My heart of all that soothes its pain
The mournful hope that every throb
Will make it break for thee!
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/poe/edgar_allan/p74p/poem13.html
Last updated Friday, May 10, 2013 at 22:26