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THE VOICE, by                    
First Line: Through mists of tears I saw the vanished past
Last Line: "try exercise, old sport, and simpler diet"
Alternate Author Name(s): Rusticus
Subject(s): History;memory; Historians


Through mists of tears I saw the vanished Past,
A sad, gray land. Low-scudding clouds were raining;
And pallid phantoms wandered there complaining.
"We are Regrets," they moaned. "Thy tale, amassed
Through long, unhappy years, thou man that wast
Once blithe and young but now art overborne
By gaunt Remorse and agonized Selfscorn."
Then, sobbing, faded to the lowering vast.
I cried for human pity. Came there none
Across the murk and mist and rain-swept marsh
That never knew the wholesome light of sun,
The slough of Failure, Grief, and black Disquiet,
Until there croaked a voice, discordant, harsh,
"Try exercise, old sport, and simpler diet."





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