Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MUTABILITY, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MUTABILITY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw two children intertwine
Last Line: No fellow-soul's fraternal unions.
Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord
Subject(s): Mutability


I saw two children intertwine
Their arms about each other,
Like the young tendrils of a vine
About its nearest brother:
And ever and anon,
As gaily they ran on,
They looked into each other's face
Anticipating an embrace.

I saw these two when they were men,
I watched them meet one day,
They touched each other's hands -- and then
Each went on his own way.
There did not seem a tie
Of love -- a bond or chain,
To make them turn the lingering eye,
Or grasp the hand again.

This is a page in our life's book
We all of us turn over:
The web is rent,
The hour-glass spent,
And, oh! the paths we once forsook
How seldom we recover.

Our days are broken into parts,
And every remnant has a tale
Of the abandonment of hearts,
Which make our freshest hopes grow pale;
And when we talk of Friendship mutter,
We know not what it is we utter.

I weep not that our fate is dark,
I quail not that the wild winds hark
About our heads, and miseries mark
Their victories on our brows: --
But though the dynasty of Fate
Doth make our words a feather's weight,
Doth mark our pledges with derision,
And force us into indecision,
And feigning of our vows --
I care not that our lore may be
Deep as the everlasting sea;
When will the falling of a star,
The darting of a sun-born beam,
Compare with what our spirits are?
And what unto ourselves we seem,
Is tinctured with a life so small,
So wretchedly ephemeral,
As thrills our phantom-like communions --
No fellow-soul's fraternal unions.





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