Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHAT IS LOVE? by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN

First Line: WHAT IS LOVE? I ASKED A LOVER
Last Line: DESOLATION, DEVASTATION, %SPOLIATION AND UPROOTING!

What is Love? I asked a lover -
Liken it, he answered, weeping,
To a flood unchained and sweeping
Over shell-strewn grottoes, over
Beds of roses, lilies, tulips,
O'er all flowers that most enrich the
Garden, in one headlong torrent,
Till they shew a wreck from which the
Eye and mind recoil abhorrent.
Hearts may woo hearts, lips may woo lips,
And gay days be spent in gladness,
Dancing, feasting, lilting, luting,
But the end of all is Sadness,
Desolation, Devastation,
Spoliation and Uprooting!




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