COULD my heart more tongues employ Than it harbours thoughts of grief; It is now so far from joy, That it scarce could ask relief. Truest hearts by deeds unkind To despair are most inclined. Happy minds, that can redeem Their engagements how they please! That no joys or hopes esteem, Half so precious as their ease! Wisdom should prepare men so As if they did all foreknow. Yet no art or caution can Grown affections easily change; Use is such a lord of man That he brooks worst what is strange. Better never to be blest Than to lose all at the best. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SEALS IN PENOBSCOT BAY by KAREN SWENSON THE DEEPER THOUGHT by MATTHEW ARNOLD AMERICA (1) by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THIS LIME-TREE BOWER MY PRISON by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE FUNERAL by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES by FRANCIS BRET HARTE EXTRACTS FROM AN OPERA: 2. DAISY'S SONG by JOHN KEATS ON THE HOME GUARDS; WHO PERISHED ... LEXINGTON, MISSOURI by HERMAN MELVILLE |