YOU bid me hold my peace And dry my fruitless tears, Forgetting that I bear A pain beyond my years. You say that I should smile And drive the gloom away; I would, but sun and smiles Have left my life's dark day. All time seems cold and void, And naught but tears remain; Life's music beats for me A melancholy strain. I used at first to hope, But hope is past and gone; And now without a ray My cheerless life drags on. Like to an ash-stained hearth When all its fires are spent; Like to an autumn wood By storm winds rudely shent, -- So sadly goes my heart, Unclothed of hope and peace; It asks not joy again, But only seeks release. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ABYSS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS SONNET: 128 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE LINES COMPOSED AT GRASMERE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH PRAYER OF AN UNEMPLOYED MAN by W. C. ACKERLY CARELESS LINES ON LABOUR by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS MOTHER HEART by NELLIE COOLEY ALDER |