IF floods of tears could cleanse my follies past And smokes of sighs might sacrifice for sin, If groaning cries might salve my fault at last, Or endless moan, for error pardon win, Then would I cry, weep sigh, and ever moan, Mine errors, faults, sins, follies, past and gone. I see my hopes must wither in their bud, I see my favours are no lasting flowers, I see that words will breed no better good Than loss of time and lightening but at hours: Thus when I see, then thus I say, therefore— That favours, hopes, and words can blind no more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CRADLE SONG by WILLIAM BLAKE REBEL MOTHER'S LULLABY by SHANE LESLIE ON A MAGAZINE SONNET by RUSSELL HILLARD LOINES THE HARLEM DANCER by CLAUDE MCKAY THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT by JONATHAN SWIFT WHEN LET BY RAIN by EDWARD TAYLOR WILD GEESE by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS |