"(To Octavia)" is a short poem by Edgar Allan Poe in which a speaker confesses that even amid laughter, wine, and the warmth of friendship, his heart cannot escape its devotion to Octavia. He pleads with her not to strip away the one bittersweet comfort left to him — the aching hope that his longing will, beat by beat, finally break him free. The poem is brief but cuts deep, balancing festive joy against private, consuming grief.

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