In “Commemoration,” the speaker looks back on a love that felt overpowering and sacred. From the first moment the beloved’s “glory” touched him, his body caught fire, and their union brought a hush like deep stillness or worship. The passion is remembered as both physical and almost religious.
Now that it is gone, the speaker says plainly that he will never again feel that flushed, naked closeness, and he will no longer be transfigured by the beloved’s “immortal flame.” The mention of his “swarthy face” grounds this veneration in a specific, physical self. The mood is elegiac and reverent: not bitter, but heavy with loss. He mourns not just a person, but the way love once made him feel godlike, alive, and wrapped in wonder. The poem reads like a private memorial to a passion that changed him completely.