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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A DOG, by JOHN JAY CHAPMAN Poet Analysis
First Line: Past happiness dissolves. It fades away
Last Line: If but his footstep sounded on the stair!
Variant Title(s): His Vanished Master
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; World War I - Casualties
First Line: Past happiness dissolves. It fades away
Last Line: If but his footstep sounded on the stair!
Variant Title(s): His Vanished Master
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; World War I - Casualties
PAST happiness dissolves. It fades away,
Ghost-like, in that dim attic of the mind
To which the dreams of childhood are consigned.
Here, withered garlands hang in slow decay,
And trophies glimmer in the dying ray
Of stars that once with heavenly glory shined.
But you, old friend, are you still left behind
To tell the nearness of life's yesterday?
Ah, boon companion of my vanished boy,
For you he lives; in every sylvan walk
He waits; and you expect him everywhere.
How would you stir, what cries, what bounds of joy,
If but his voice were heard in casual talk,
If but his footstep sounded on the stair!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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FOR THE FALLEN (SEPTEMBER 1914) by LAURENCE BINYON
TRAFALGAR SQUARE by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES
1914: 3. THE DEAD by RUPERT BROOKE
1914: 4. THE DEAD by RUPERT BROOKE
BETWEEN THE LINES by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON
RUPERT BROOKE by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON
BOOKS & READING by JOHN JAY CHAPMAN