Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHORUS FROM A TRAGEDY, by LEONARD BACON (1887-1954)


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CHORUS FROM A TRAGEDY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The world is no longer good
Last Line: Would the olive leaf once more?


The world is no longer good.
Men's hearts no more are kind.
There is coldness in the mind,
Bitterness in the blood.
And I am not resigned.

When they talk of burning things
That touch me to the heart,
They trammel music and art,
They wither Ariel's wings
Or tear his pinions apart,

Anatomizing, digesting,
Drying the sap that ran
Once in the brain of man
Riotous and unresting,
Guiltless of plot or plan.

There is no pulse in the vein.
And the staunch muscle has slacked.
A blight has devoured the bract.
Color dies to a stain.
Wisdom dwindles to fact.

And I feel as dead as the ash
Of an unregarded fire.
The elements of desire,
Lovely and wild and rash,
Separate and retire.

We shall not have things as they were,
Not as they were before.
If I had the heart to restore,
Would the chestnut thicken its burr?
Would the olive leaf once more?





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