You cannot hurt me any more For I am armored now
And I can look into your face With cool, unfevered brow.
The tranquil river meets the sea, My life flows on at rest,
Unurged, untorn, but oh, my God! I love the old way best!
At first, the speaker seems to have won a hard-fought peace. She tells someone that they can no longer hurt her, that she has put on emotional armor and can meet their gaze without fever or distress. Her life now has the stillness of a river reaching the sea—quiet, unhurried, no longer torn apart.
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