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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONG OF THE DESPERATE ONE, by CHARLES VILDRAC Poet's Biography
First Line: Down the days and down the years
Last Line: Over every joy.
Alternate Author Name(s): Messager, Charle
Subject(s): Grief; Pain; Singing & Singers; Tears; Sorrow; Sadness; Suffering; Misery
First Line: Down the days and down the years
Last Line: Over every joy.
Alternate Author Name(s): Messager, Charle
Subject(s): Grief; Pain; Singing & Singers; Tears; Sorrow; Sadness; Suffering; Misery
Down the days and down the years
I sing, I sing.
The song that I bring
Is sad and gay,
The old pain wins a smile there
And the joy finds tears.
It is the intoxicant, heart-broken joy
Of stricken boughs,
Of boughs with budded leaves
Trailing in water;
It is the dance of the snowflake
That whirls and falls,
Rises, then drowns
In the desert of snow.
In a summer garden
The sobbing laugh of a blindman
Who staggers among the flowers;
A murmur of festival
Or of children's play
That reaches a graveyard;
The eternal song,
Delicate, poignant,
That clasps but not stifles
The harsh law of the world;
The eternal distress,
The eternal joy,
Of a wandering pilgrim
Deep in death and love.
Deep in death and deep in love,
I sing, I sing!
It is my fortune and my lot
To bear within my soul
Gleaming and faithful,
Alert to dart forth,
This white ray of song
That cloaks all suffering,
This cry for mercy
Over every joy.
Other Poems of Interest...
PARTHENOPHIL AND PARTHENOPHE: MADRIGAL 14 by BARNABE BARNES
SONNETS IN SHADOWS: 1 by ARLO BATES
IN PRAISE OF PAIN by HEATHER MCHUGH
THE SYMPATIZERS by JOSEPHINE MILES
LEEK STREET by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR