Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARAH, by EDWARD L. PONTZ


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARAH, by                    
First Line: To the fresh vision of the charmed child
Last Line: They give mankind to endure the present hour!
Subject(s): Hope; Memory; Optimism


To the fresh vision of the charmèd child
How bright is Hope! Its bow of promise hangs
On heaven's walls, rain-washed and dazzling; strong,
And like the day renewed, is its allure;
It beckons and he follows—'tis the tale
Of credulous life—till slowly with the years
The sparkling spectrum fades; the merry chase
Ends in a pewter pot of fool's gold: dead,
Crumbled to dust, his leaves and loves, and mere
Straw flowers the asphodels; the true seems false,
And all a monstrous cheat. A cynic might,
With these illusions lost, "curse God and die."

But lo! as Hope thus fails, at equal pace,
Brightens the sky of restrospect; again
Tear-dropping clouds and beating storms recede
In distant sunshine, glamour and mirage.
Whate'er of good or bad to him befell,
He cherishes; in sorrow for old days
Sometimes he loves old sorrows—or forgets:
Ere Memory's night the vista fascinates
And his myopic second childhood calls
As potently, almost, as Hope his first,
Blurring the past with iridescent hues,
E'en as the future glittered—and beguiled.

But Hope and Memory both be blest for power
They give mankind to endure the present hour!





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