Hope was but a timid friend -- She sat without my grated den Watching how my fate would tend Even as selfish-hearted men. She was cruel in her fear. Through the bars, one dreary day, I looked out to see her there And she turned her face away! Like a false guard false watch keeping Still in strife she whispered peace; She would sing while I was weeping, If I listened, she would cease. False she was, and unrelenting. When my last joys strewed the ground Even Sorrow saw repenting Those sad relics scattered round; Hope - whose whisper would have given Balm to all that frenzied pain -- Stretched her wings and soared to heaven; Went - and ne'er returned again! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOWN-HILL ON A BICYCLE by LOUIS UNTERMEYER OF A BAD SINGER; EPIGRAM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE WELCOME by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS A TEAMSTER'S FAREWELL by CARL SANDBURG RECOMPENSE by DOROTHY MOORE ALFORD THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): JASON'S SOWING AND REAPING by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS |