FAME, wisdom, love, and power were mine, And health and youth possess'd me; My goblets blush'd from every vine, And lovely forms caress'd me; I sunn'd my heart in beauty's eyes, And felt my soul grow tender; All earth can give, or mortal prize, Was mine of regal splendour. I strive to number o'er what days Remembrance can discover, Which all that life or earth displays Would lure me to live over. There rose no day, there roll'd no hour Of pleasure unembitter'd; And not a trapping deck'd my power That gall'd not while it glitter'd. The serpent of the field, by art And spells, is won from harming; But that which coils around the heart, Oh! who hath power of charming? It will not list to wisdom's lore, Nor music's voice can lure it; But there it stings for evermore The soul that must endure it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FALLING ASLEEP by SIEGFRIED SASSOON THE MAY QUEEN by ALFRED TENNYSON A JAPANESE FAN by MARGARET VELEY TO THE GARDEN THE WORLD by WALT WHITMAN TO FURIUS ON POVERTY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THANKSGIVING DAY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH ENVOI: DEATH (1) by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: IBN KOLTHUM by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |