Across the doleful vacancy For many months it lay, One friendly lock that stayed by me When the others fell away. It hid the barren waste behind, And gave a sense of hair; It kept me in a youthful mind As long as it was there. Sarcastic barbers now and then Aspired to cut it off; But I withstood those merry men And met their fleering scoff. No impish breeze in all the sky Would leave it lying flat; A gallant red-plumed knight was I Whene'er I raised my hat. It would not keep its proper place; With ceaseless enterprise It straggled down my dismal face And tickled in my eyes. It never fooled a single soul Except the fool I am. For me, Time's waves that onward roll It held with hairy dam. But one by one the hairs grew less Upon my shining crown, And aye to fill the emptiness I parted further down. The merest wisp I learned to spread As far as it would go; It made upon my barren head A last, pathetic show. But now, ah, me! I cannot comb A single gallant hair; Time sits triumphant on the dome, My cranium is bare. The teeter-board of life has turned Upon its downward sweep; The hurrying years, so stoutly spurned, Now drag me to the deep. Perchance upon the other shore -- Sweet hope of dying men! -- I'll meet that faithful lock once more, And have my hair again! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH IN BALLADE FORM by FRANCOIS VILLON HOW TO KNOW LOVE FROM DECEIT by WILLIAM BLAKE THE BIGLOW PAPERS. 2D SERIES. THE COURTIN' by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL VERLAINE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON SEASONS (1) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI |