Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE'S LOSS LAMENTED, by THOMAS STURGE MOORE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE'S LOSS LAMENTED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O swift, o proud, o brave, o beautiful
Last Line: What was is not.
Alternate Author Name(s): Moore, T. Sturge
Subject(s): Consolation; Love - Unrequited


O SWIFT, O proud, O brave, O beautiful,
Thou steed, thou charger for a god,
What orient plateau has thou trod?
Or, coursing steppes of heaven, didst thou pull
The Lord of Song
In gold car, full of joy, of rapture full
For thou wast strong?

Oh pain! Oh wrong! Oh shame! Oh misery!
For now a groom, a base-born slave,
Has lashed thee; curbed thee, once so brave;
Thou to be noosed by cunning! furiously
To plunge, to fall,
Get up, rear, stumble, snort, foam, bleed, and be
Cowed after all!

Ah, favourite stallion of the sun!
When "Morning's Wonder" was thy name,
Effortless, dauntless wouldst thou run..
So noble once, art thou so tame?
Once swift, once proud, once brave, once beautiful,
What pain, what wrong, what shame, what misery
Has thine been that thou art not free?
That at this bridle thou shouldst pull?
O rash Desire, whose untaught eyes knew love,
Those tears are hot:
True love has ceased, has ceased to be true love;
What was is not.





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