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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO YOUTH by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHERE ART THOU GONE, LIGHT-ANKLED YOUTH?
Last Line: AND BOTH, ALAS! TAKE FLIGHT.
Subject(s): YOUTH;

WHERE art thou gone, light-ankled youth?
With wing at either shoulder,
And smile that never left thy mouth
Until the Hours grew colder:
Then some one seemed to whisper near
That thou and I must part;
I doubted it; I felt no fear,
No weight upon the heart.
If aught befell it, Love was by
And rolled it off again;
So, if there ever was a sigh,
'T was not a sigh of pain.
I may not call thee back; but thou
Returnest when the hand
Of gentle Sleep waves o'er my brow
His poppy-crested wand;
Then smiling eyes bend over mine,
Then lips once pressed invite;
But sleep hath given a silent sign,
And both, alas! take flight.



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