A man looks back at the woman who once mattered, and the pain is immediate. He begins by dismissing himself—“pass him”—as if he doesn’t even deserve to be part of the story. Then he’s caught by her beauty, the way the light seems to strike from her, the dizzying pull of her eyes when she singles someone out. There’s a flash of jealousy, even a dangerous urge to kiss her forehead, before he stops short at the thought of another man’s claim. The mood swings between raw desire and bitter self-mockery. Only at the end does the truth hit: the woman he truly wants no longer exists. She’s a “phantom-woman in the Past,” a star whose light is already lost. He didn’t hear the bell toll, but the marriage is dead. The whole sonnet holds you in the ache of wanting something that’s already gone, long after it’s too late to do anything about it.
Modern Love III: This Was the Woman — Summary
This was the woman; what now of the man? But pass him. If he comes beneath a heel, He shall be crushed until he cannot feel, Or, being callous, haply till he can. But he is nothing:--nothing? Only mark The rich light striking out from her on him! Ha! what a sense it is when her eyes swim Across the man she singles, leaving dark All else! Lord God, who mad'st the thing so fair, See that I am drawn to her even now! It cannot be such harm on her cool brow To put a kiss? Yet if I meet him there! But she is mine! Ah, no! I know too well I claim a star whose light is overcast: I claim a phantom-woman in the Past. The hour has struck, though I heard not the bell!