|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
I WISH, by JAMES STEPHENS Poet's Biography
First Line: I wish I had not come to man's estate
Last Line: Whose champion long ago I might have been!
Subject(s): Innocence
First Line: I wish I had not come to man's estate
Last Line: Whose champion long ago I might have been!
Subject(s): Innocence
I wish I had not come to man's estate,
I wish I was a silly urchin still,
With bounding pulses, and a heart elate
To meet whatever came of good or ill.
Of good or ill! Not knowing what was good,
But groping to a better than I knew;
And guessing deeper than I understood;
And hoping truths that seemed to be untrue.
Of good or ill! When, so it often seems,
There is no good at all but only ill.
Alas, the sunny summer-time of dreams!
8he dragons I had nerved my hand to kill!
The maid I could have rescued, and the queen
Whose champion long ago I might have been!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
HORATIAN VIRTUE by ANTHONY HECHT
MONOLOGUE BEFORE AN INNOCENT BEING PRISONED IN A TREE by MARY KINZIE
THE EROTIC PHILOSOPHERS by KIZER. CAROLYN
THE LANDLADY OF THE WHINTON INN TELLS A STORY by AMY LOWELL
THE SUBCULTURE OF THE WRONGLY ACCUSED by THYLIAS MOSS
IN THE FUGITIVE by AMIRI BARAKA