"Once on a Time," was a magical phrase Thrilling with promise of marvelous stories, Tales of the pixies and nixies and fays, Princes and fairyland kings in their glories; I was a boy and these chronicles, all of them, Bore me away to a mythical clime Ruled by strange wizards, and I was in thrall of them Once on a Time. Once on a Time I was slender and young, Love was enchantment and life was a dance, Youth was but coin to be squandered and flung, Days were all sunshine and nights were Romance; Now when I think of those days and the fun of them, When I see youngsters still flush in their prime, I can but sigh, "Well, at least I was one of them Once on a Time!" Once on a Time I had wonderful dreams Made up of rainbows that glowed in the distance, Once I sought Life, but to-day, so it seems, All I have won to is merely Existence. This is the fruit of the blithe and the merry tales, —Middle-aged plodding through workaday grime— Still, thank the Lord, I believed in the fairy-tales Once on a Time! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RESOLVE by ALEXANDER BROME SONNET: DEATH-WARNINGS by FRANCISCO GOMEZ DE QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS CALVARY by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON SONNET: 97 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE CASE OF DOMINEERING JOHN ALEXIS UPHAM by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS AN AUTUMN NIGHT by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS |