THEY talk of short-lived pleasure -- be it so -- Pain dies as quickly: stem, hard-featured pain Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go. The fiercest agonies have shortest reign; And after dreams of horror, comes again The welcome morning with its rays of peace. Oblivion, softly wiping out the stain, Makes the strong secret pangs of shame to cease.: Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase Are fruits of innocence and blessedness: Thus joy, o'erborne and bound, doth still release His young limbs from the chains that round him press. Weep not that the world changes -- did it keep A stable changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN by KAREN SWENSON CHRISTMAS EVERYWHERE by PHILLIPS BROOKS A NORTHERN SUBURB by JOHN DAVIDSON SONNET: 15. TO THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX by JOHN MILTON ONCE IN A WAY by ANTIPHILUS OF BYZANTIUM A SHEPHERD'S DREAM by NICHOLAS BRETON THE CANDIDATE: TO THE AUTHORS OF THE 'MONTHLY REVIEW' by GEORGE CRABBE |