Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ICHABOD! THE GLORY HATH DEPARTED by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN

First Line: I RIDE THROUGH A DARK, DARK LAND BY NIGHT
Last Line: AND THE MANTLE OF AGE ON MY SHOULDERS
I ride through a dark, dark Land by night,
Where moon is none and no stars lend light,
And rueful winds are blowing;
Yet oft have I trodden this way ere now,
With summer zephyrs a-fanning my brow,
And the gold of the sunshine glowing.


I roam by a gloomy garden wall;
The death-stricken leaves around me fall;
And the night-blast wails its dolours;
How oft with my love I have hitherward strayed
When the roses flowered, and all I surveyed
Was radiant with Hope's own colours!


But the gold of the sunshine is shed and gone
And the once bright roses are dead and wan,
And my love in her low grave moulders,
And I ride through a dark, dark land by night
With never a star to bless me with light,
And the Mantle of Age on my shoulders.




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