Anticipation fills the speaker, but so does unease. She repeats that the beloved is coming, coming, coming, and wonders how she can bear the waiting hours. Yet her excitement is tangled with frustration: she is almost angry at how intensely she longs for one man out of the whole world. Part of her wants to stay self-contained, to keep her life “lightly and still as a dream,” sure of her own clear thoughts. The night arrives with its slow moon and ready stars, and that calm setting makes her restlessness sharper. The closing question is tender and a little sad—why must love mean losing the separate person she values? The mood is intimate, urgent, and divided, caught between desire and the wish not to be consumed.
"Oh You Are Coming" — Summary
Oh you are coming, coming, coming, How will hungry Time put by the hours till then?-- But why does it anger my heart to long so For one man out of the world of men?
Oh I would live in myself only And build my life lightly and still as a dream-- Are not my thoughts clearer than your thoughts And colored like stones in a running stream?
Now the slow moon brightens in heaven, The stars are ready, the night is here-- Oh why must I lose myself to love you, My dear?