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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE PAINS OF YOUTH; SONNET by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES

Poet Analysis

First Line: A SHADOW, A LIGHT CLOUD, AN APRIL RAIN
Last Line: SIGH, TREMBLE, WEEP, PASS ONWARD AND FORGET.
Subject(s): YOUTH;

A SHADOW, a light cloud, an April rain,
And twenty other vain similitudes,
Betoken that fast-springing Youth eludes
The full impression of continuous pain.
Strange fallacy! when all that then we feel
Strikes home, -- the veriest trifles how profound!
When there is something in each precious wound
That searing Manhood almost fails to heal.
But let the harshnesses of daily life
And all the blunt world's businesses have set
A seal upon the fountain of the heart,
Then tangled in the party-coloured strife,
We throb with Love or Hate, we meet or part,
Sigh, tremble, weep, pass onward and forget.



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