Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 47, by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 47, by                    
First Line: Is it worth while to have breathed the earthly air?
Last Line: Though years on weary years have wailed forlorn.


Is it worth while to have breathed the earthly air?—
Yes: even if the final end be near,
And if pain's storms have clouded many a year,
Yet there were early summers soft and fair.
Passion hath twined for me full many a rare
Chaplet,—and Harrow boyish skies were clear,
And Oxford marigolds in marshy mere
Shone radiant,—and the Cornish maiden-hair.

And the great Northern waves did welcome me,—
And, Alice, thou their Venus then wast born,
Born from the eddies of the frothing sea,
White-bodied as in the young world's sweet morn.
It is worth while to have lived for thee,—for thee,—
Though years on weary years have wailed forlorn.





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