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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: THE LIFE-FOREST by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE

Poet Analysis

First Line: IN SPRINGTIME OF OUR YOUTH, LIFE'S PURPLING SHADE
Last Line: OUR PATHWAY DARKENS TOWARDS THE DARKENING SUN!

IN springtime of our youth, life's purpling shade,
Foliage and fruit, do hang so thickly round,
We seem glad tenants of enchanted ground,
O'er which for aye dream-whispering winds have played.
Then summer comes, her full-blown charm is laid
On all the forest aisles; from bound to bound
Floats woodland music, and the silvery sound
Of fountains babbling to the golden glade.
Next, a chill breath, the breath of Autumn's doom
Strips the fair sylvan branches, one by one,
Till the bare landscape broadens to our view;
Behind, black tree boles blot the twilight blue,
Before, unfoliaged, bald of light and bloom,
Our pathway darkens towards the darkening sun!



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