Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A FRIEND INQUIRING IF WOULD LIVE OVER MY YOUTH AGAIN, by ROBERT SOUTHEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A FRIEND INQUIRING IF WOULD LIVE OVER MY YOUTH AGAIN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do I regret the past?
Last Line: Again to wake in light.
Subject(s): Future Life; God; Past; Regret; Youth; Retribution; Eternity; After Life


Do I regret the past?
Would I again live o'er
The morning hours of life?
Nay, William, nay, not so!
In the warm joyaunce of the summer sun
I do not wish again
The changeful April day.
Nay, William, nay, not so!
Safe haven'd from the sea
I would not tempt again
The uncertain ocean's wrath.
Praise be to him who made me what I am,
Other I would not be.
Why is it pleasant then to sit and talk
Of days that are no more?
When in his own dear home
The traveller rests at last,
And tells how often in his wanderings
The thought of those far off
Has made his eyes o'erflow
With no unmanly tears;
Delighted, he recalls
Through what fair scenes his charmed feet have trod.
But ever when he tells of perils past,
And troubles now no more,
His eyes most sparkle, and a readier joy
Flows rapid to his heart.

No, William, no, I would not live again
The morning hours of life;
I would not be again
The slave of hope and fear;
I would not learn again
The wisdom by experience hardly taught.
To me the past presents
No object for regret;
To me the present gives
All cause for full content;—
The future,—it is now the cheerful noon,
And on the sunny-smiling fields I gaze
With eyes alive to joy;
When the dark night descends,
My weary lids I willingly shall close,
Again to wake in light.





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