Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AN OLD PRIMA DONNA SPEAKS by HELEN WIEAND COLE

First Line: I MADE MY CHOICE: / 'TWAS CHILDREN OR MY VOICE
Last Line: WITH THEIR REMEMBERED PRAISE.
Subject(s): FORGETFULNESS; REGRET; SOLITUDE; LONELINESS;

I made my choice:
'Twas children or my voice;
Now it is gone
I sit here sad, alone.

No one to care
Whither I go, or where
I spend the years;
They end at last in tears.

Forgot my name;
Impermanent is fame.
How dare I teach
Ambitious youth to reach

For such a prize,
When at the end there lies
Bitter regret,
Forgetfulness? And yet

Still in my ears
The plaudits of my peers
Fill lonely days
With their remembered praise.



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