Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FORSAKEN, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FORSAKEN, by                    
First Line: My heart is far too sad to sing
Last Line: A galling grief.
Subject(s): Hearts; Hope; Love - Complaints; Optimism


My heart is far too sad to sing,
And yet the muse would take its wing
For one short flight,
As if to bear my thoughts away
From burning brain and trembling clay,
And Love's long night.

But comrades call me in their glee:
"Come listen to the happy sea,
It laughs and plays."
I hark and only hear the moan
Of dying Love, as on a stone
She sobs and prays.

"But look! Across the liquid arch
Old Day's battalions gayly march
With banners bright."
I strain my eyes and look in vain,
But only see a somber train
Sink into night.

'Tis vanquished Hope, upon her bier
And yet alive to feel and fear
And bleed and sigh.
And trailing in her fading beam,
I see ambition's fondest dream
Droop down and die.

And drifting on that sobbing tide
With broken love is all beside—
Perhaps my mind.
My sun sinks low but will not set,
The darkness deepens fast, and yet
Love still is blind.

It must not be! It cannot be!
My soul itself is one wild sea,
No shore in sight.
Hark! E'en the sea gulls seem to cry:
"Your love must die! Your love must die!"—
Then cease their flight.

The diamond dewdrops are but tears
From yesterday, the ghost of years,
O'er blisses brief.
And this is all she left for me—
Despondency! despondency!
A galling grief.





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