Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MY BIRTHDAY, by THOMAS MOORE Poet's Biography First Line: My birth-day' - what a different sound Last Line: And comfortless, and stormy round! Alternate Author Name(s): Little, Thomas Subject(s): Birthdays | ||||||||
'MY birth-day' -- what a different sound That word had in my youthful ears! And how, each time the day comes round, Less and less white its mark appears! When first our scanty years are told, It seems like pastime to grow old; And, as Youth counts the shining links, That Time around him binds so fast, Pleased with the task, he little thinks How hard that chain will press at last. Vain was the man, and false as vain, Who said -- 'were he ordained to run His long career of life again, He would do all that he had done.' Ah, 'tis not thus the voice, that dwells In sober birth-days, speaks to me; Far otherwise -- of time it tells, Lavished unwisely, carelessly; Of counsel mocked; of talents, made Haply for high and pure designs, But oft, like Israel's incense, laid Upon unholy, earthly shrines; Of nursing many a wrong desire; Of wandering after Love too far, And taking every meteor fire, That crossed my pathway, for his star. All this it tells, and, could I trace Th' imperfect picture o'er again, With power to add, retouch, efface The lights and shades, the joy and pain, How little of the past would stay! How quickly all should melt away -- All -- but that Freedom of the Mind, Which hath been more than wealth to me; Those friendships, in my boyhood twined, And kept till now unchangingly; And that dear home, that saving-ark, Where Love's true light at last I've found, Cheering within, when all grows dark, And comfortless, and stormy round! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BIRTHDAY (AUTOBIOGRAPHY) by ROBINSON JEFFERS POEM FOR MY TWENTIETH BIRTHDAY by KENNETH KOCH A HAPPY BIRTHDAY by TED KOOSER FOR A SOLDIER'S BIRTHDAY by EVE MERRIAM PICTURE THIS:/ FOR THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER by ANDREW MOTION POEM FOR MY BIRTHDAY by LISEL MUELLER A CANADIAN BOAT SONG; WRITTEN ON THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE by THOMAS MOORE |
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