Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TWO SONNETS FOR FIFTY, by WILLIAM VAN WYCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TWO SONNETS FOR FIFTY, by                    
First Line: I thought love was eternal and mine eyes
Last Line: Of my love grave! Who are the sons of god?
Subject(s): Middle Age


I thought love was eternal and mine eyes
Glistened with happy tears. My days might go
Waxing or waning, either fast or slow,
For nothing mattered save love's ecstasies.
Resting a moment, soaring to the skies,
I bathed me in the sun of life's sweet glow,
Floating on pinions, wafted to and fro,
With wings outspread and as the lover flies.

But that was long ago and time has swept
And garnished my small house of hopes. How vain
Are all the pleadings and the tears I've wept.
Love will not linger. Memories remain,
But they are bitter-sweet. The game is done,
And I must turn me toward a westing sun.

The middle years have come and wild regret
For all the merry past, came with them too.
And spun-gold hair and skies of vivid blue
Go grey for sorrow. God, I would forget
That happy past for bitterness. And yet,
Who can forget the past? Not I. Not you.
The middle years are weary years, they brew
A darkling cup -- Gethsemane's cold sweat.

Mine eyes are bright. A grinning skull, and soon,
Will be their recollection left behind.
O meditation, on life's afternoon,
I hear the ravens cawing down the wind,
And see the weeds grow thick upon the sod
Of my love grave! Who are the sons of God?





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