Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THIS PALTRY 'I' by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP

First Line: AT TIMES I SICKEN OF THIS PALTRY 'I'
Last Line: AND GIVES NOT STRENGTH THE SUMMIT TO ATTAIN!

AT times I sicken of this paltry "I,"
At times it seems oblivion would be good ...
'Tis hard to know the truth and live the lie,
Caught in the maelstrom of the multitude,
And, in the common cloth of fools endued,
To think like God and like an insect die.
To give up what I have not were not vain.
Call you this Life I drag from day to day?
My dreams have wings of fire, but crawl in clay.
I see the heights, yet cannot leave the plain. ...
O, He is cruel who makes known the way
And gives not strength the summit to attain!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net