"The theme of this poem is the lasting impression made by a love affair which has been broken off, apparently long ago, and which has been superseded by other relationships." The lover has consciously been forgotten, but the image remains in the unconcious.

A DEEP-SWORN VOW by W.B. Yeats

Others because you did not keep
That deep-sworn vow have been friends of mine;
Yet always when I look death in the face,
When I clamber to the heights of sleep,
Or when I grow excited with wine,
Suddenly I meet your face.

The "New Critics" loved this poem. It has such economy of words and there is clarity in its ambiguity. Woe be the poor person that does not have the face of her / his first lover implanted in the unconscious.

Chuck