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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BALLADE OF MIDDLE AGE, by ANDREW LANG Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Our youth began with tears and sighs
Last Line: "life's more amusing than we thought""!"
Subject(s): Youth
First Line: Our youth began with tears and sighs
Last Line: "life's more amusing than we thought""!"
Subject(s): Youth
OUR youth began with tears and sighs,
With seeking what we could not find;
Our verses all were threnodies,
In elegiacs still we whined;
Our ears were deaf, our eyes were blind,
We sought and knew not what we sought.
We marvel, now we look behind:
Life's more amusing than we thought!
Oh, foolish youth, untimely wise!
Oh, phantoms of the sickly mind!
What? not content with seas and skies,
With rainy clouds and southern wind,
With common cares and faces kind,
With pains and joys each morning brought?
Ah, old, and worn, and tired we find
Life's more amusing than we thought!
Though youth "turns spectre-thin and dies,"
To mourn for youth we're not inclined;
We set our souls on salmon flies,
We whistle where we once repined.
Confound the woes of human-kind!
By Heaven we're "well deceived," I wot;
Who hum, contented or resigned,
"Life's more amusing than we thought"!
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BETWEEN THE WARS by ROBERT HASS
THE GOLDEN SHOVEL by TERRANCE HAYES
ALONG WITH YOUTH by ERNEST HEMINGWAY
THE BLACK RIVIERA by MARK JARMAN