ALACK, alack! my days are dreary, Fast fleeting, wasted, void, and vain. Alack, alack! my heart is weary Of straying o'er and o'er again. Still the old follies repossess, Retrodden love's delusive track. Still the same dregs of bitterness, The same, the same--Alack, alack! Alack, alack! how oft one swears Henceforth unmoved and proud to stay. Alack, alack! come smiles or tears, To-morrow re-enacts to-day. Where erst we fell we fall again; Poor fools we were, and shall be so Till both feet in the grave be lain, Alack, alack! below, below. Alack, alack! when I began To mock in merry guise I thought, Alack, alack! this world of man So cruel in its very sport. But no! a sudden agony Has stopt my song, my tears brought back; From your own self you ne'er can fly. Ah ne'er, ah ne'er! alack, alack! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SURFACES AND MASKS; 4 by CLARENCE MAJOR WAPENTAKE; TO ALFRED TENNYSON by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW HOME THOUGHTS FROM EUROPE by HENRY VAN DYKE BE DRUNK by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE CHRISTMAS EVE, 1917 by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |