Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PAST AND THE FUTURE, by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I've looked, and trusted, sighed, and loved my last! Last Line: Dear brotherhood. Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, Isaac Subject(s): Life | ||||||||
I'VE looked, and trusted, sighed, and loved my last! The dream hath vanished, the hot fever's past That parched my youth! Though cheerless was the matin of my years, And dim life's dawning through a vale of tears, Yet Hope, in ruth, With smile persuasive, evermore would say -- "Live on, live on! -- Expect Joy's summer day" -- Vain counsel, void of truth! Yes, to the world I've clung with fond embrace, And each succeeding day did more efface Its hollow joys, And friends died out around me every where, And I was left to the idle stare Of vagrant boys -- A land-mark on the ever-shifting tide Of fashion, folly, impudence, and pride, And ribald noise. Yes, I have lived, and lived until I knew The world ne'er alters its ungrateful hue, And glance malign; And though, at times, some chance-sown noble spirit Its wilderness a season may inherit, In want and pine, Yet these be weeded soon, and pass away, All unbefriended, to their funeral clay! Array thyself for flight, my soul, nor tarry -- Thou bird of glory ne'er wert doomed to marry A sphere so rude -- But to be mated with some hermit star, O'er heaven's soft azure keeping watch afar, In pulchritude: Uplift thy pinions, seek thy resting-place, Where kindred spirits long for thy embrace -- Dear brotherhood. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRIVILEGE OF BEING by ROBERT HASS SEAWATER STIFFENS CLOTH by JANE HIRSHFIELD SAYING YES TO LIVING by DAVID IGNATOW THE WORLD IS SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE UP by DAVID IGNATOW JEANIE MORRISON by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL |
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