O WORLD, they say you are old, you are old— But my eyes are young, they are young to see! And Life, they say, is a tale that is told— But, Life, I listen—tell me! tell me! Ah, yes, I am eager of eye and ear! I would see, O world—O Life, I would hear! They say that Hope is a false beacon light Set over the sunken rock, Despair— That good ships go aground in the night, By its lying, beckoning light lured there! But, Hope, I believe that your light shines true— I will set my galleon's course by you! And Beauty, they say, is a siren cold Whose lovers die and she does not care— But bend to me, Beauty, my heart is bold! Death does not daunt me, I dare, I dare! Though your name be bandied on every tongue, Still—smile on me, Beauty, for I am young! Love, they declare, is a bird on the wing! Catch it, they say—and its talons tear! Cage it and make it a prisoned thing— And it droops and dies in its prison there! But, Love, when you pass me—fly low, fly low! For I, I am young—I would know, I would know! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOOD-BYE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON LOST LOVE by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES THE MOURNING-GARMENT: THE SHEPHERD'S WIFE'S SONG by ROBERT GREENE THE PICTURE OF LITTLE T.C. IN A PROSPECT OF FLOWERS by ANDREW MARVELL HISTORY OF A LIFE by BRYAN WALLER PROCTER THE BATTLE AUTUMN OF 1862 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER A SONG OF PROGRESS by ALEXANDER ANDERSON THE SECOND BROTHER; AN UNFINISHED DRAMA by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |