Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OLD STORY, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OLD STORY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of the bitter shafts of love
Last Line: "as I might have -- in that hour!"
Subject(s): Hearts; Love; Pain; Prayer; Rain; Suffering; Misery


Of the bitter shafts of love
That poison human veins
Lost Opportunity
Excites the cruellest pains.

"An hour too late" -- and all
We touch and see
Turns to a frozen wall
Of misery!

Like drops of burning rain
That ghastly "what might have been"
Torments our wretched brain
With its litany obscene.

And our heart gives one wild cry
Against the unchanging law: --
"Let eternity go by,
And the past be as before!

"Welcome the uttermost harms
That hell holds in its power,
So I clasp her once in my arms
As I might have -- in that hour!"





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