Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VICTIM OF DRINK; THE EARLY LOST, by JANET HAMILTON Poet's Biography First Line: The early lost I mourn Last Line: For ever pray. Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Drinks & Drinking; Social Protest; Temperance; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse; Wine; Prohibition | ||||||||
THE early lost I mourn, Ah, not the early dead; The early lost return, Young hope's fair blossom shed. Gone up like dust. Oh, deeper than the wail That sounds above the dead It is, when hope must fail, And love is chill'd and dead; No hope, no trust. O curse most dread and dire, O thing most black and foul; Slakeless thirst and quenchless fire That scorcheth heart and soul! I can but weep. O most insidious foe, That vampire-like, doth cling, Draining the blood; yet, lo, Soft fanning with its wing The victim's sleep! O sad and anxious mind Dost think all goodness gone And nought but ill behind, That thus thou makest moan? Oh, calmly think. Calm, saidst thou? I am calm The calm of deep despair; Say, know'st thou of a balm To heal (the cure is rare) That plague-sore, drink? The words, the sounds I hear, The sights that pass me by, They smite and wound my ear, And blast my wakeful eye By night and day. Thine are these horrors, drink! My country's curse and shame; From them my soul would shrink, And 'gainst thy power and name For ever pray. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE FOR A SOCIAL MEETING, WITH SLIGHT ALTERATIONS BY A TEETOTALER by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES TEMPER by CLARA EXLINE BOCKOVEN A TRUCKER DRIVES THROUGH HIS LOST YOUTH by DAVID BOTTOMS THE FIGHTING WORD by BERTON BRALEY THE METHOD OF THE MAD MULLAH by BERTON BRALEY ON A PROHIBITIONIST POEM by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON A MAIDEN'S DREAM by ROBERT GREENE OUR PROGRAM by ARTHUR GUITERMAN A BALLAD FOUNDED ON A REAL INCIDENT WHICH OCCURED IN HIGH LIFE by JANET HAMILTON |
|