I HAVE known anguish, loss and disappointment, Touched the hand of madness, met the hope that hoped not, Yet do I love thee, O world, my mortal dwelling! Oh, how I love thee, sweet life that's mixed with sorrow, Fain to lose no fraction of thy tempestuous faring! Still do the milestones spin past ere I can count them: Soon will the journey with all its strange adventures Heaven-sent encounters, sweet coincidences; All that makes a poem, vivid, ample, mystic; Soon will it be over, and will not be repeated. Voices, faces, heart-beats, all that makes the drama, I shall have to leave them: though they are mine for ever, They will be transfigured: I would fain remember Their poor earthly weakness, dear in imperfection:— Stay, O Time, thy chariots; O Memory, seize thy tablets! Friends, who in a cottage have lived and loved together, May sigh when they leave it, though bound for a palace. Is it warm with memories, quick with life familiar? Earth, ere I leave thee, parting from my dearest, Hand in hand a moment, let us gaze and love thee! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DONKEY by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON UPON THE DEATH OF THE LORD HASTINGS by JOHN DRYDEN FOR [OR TO] THOSE WHO FAIL by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 10. THE PORTRAIT by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE QUAKER WIDOW by BAYARD TAYLOR A DREAM OF DEATH by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 8. AMORET by MARK AKENSIDE |