Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A LAMENT, by JOHN CHALK CLARIS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A LAMENT, by                    
First Line: In the bosom too often betrayed
Last Line: All, all, I have felt or now feel!
Alternate Author Name(s): Brooke, Arthur
Subject(s): Lament; Pain; Suffering; Misery


II.

1.

IN the bosom too often betrayed
All the pulses of joy lie decayed,
And to pleasure it wakes not again
Though it lives to the sense of its pain;

2.

And learns that the visions of youth
At the cold dawn of manhood and truth
Flit away, and that hope is no more
When the hour of delusion is o'er!

3.

And alas! for the anguish of those
Who on friendship or love would repose,
But are left by the mistress they loved,
And deceived by the friend they had proved:

4.

While their bright path that pointed to fame
Is covered with darkness and shame,
And the glories that courted their grasp
Dissolve like a cloud in their clasp!

5.

O would that my soul like a star
From the gross world apart and afar
Could dwell, and forget in the distance
The woes of this earthly existence.

6.

The rending of souls close united,
The slow-wasting pang of love slighted,
The checked tide of kindness returning
On the scorned heart all bitter and burning;

7.

The wounds which the careless world knows not,
The scars which the proud spirit shews not,
The thoughts which no words can reveal—
All, all, I have felt or now feel!





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