THE TWO STREAMS by THOMAS MOORE

I saw, from yonder silent cave,
Two Fountains running, side by side,
The one was Memory's limpid wave,
The other cold Oblivion's tide.
'O Love!' said I, in thoughtless mood,
As deep I drank of Lethe's stream,
'Be all my sorrows in this flood
Forgotten like a vanished dream!'

But who could bear that gloomy blank,
Where joy was lost as well as pain?
Quickly of Memory's fount I drank,
And brought the past all back again;
And said, 'O Love, whate'er my lot,
Still let this soul to thee be true --
Rather than have one bliss forgot,
Be all my pains remembered too!'

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...