Now sound I a retreat; now I'll no more Run all those devious paths I ran before; I will no more range sullen groves, to lie Entombed in a shade; nor basely fly The dear society of light, to give My thoughts their birth in darkness; I'll not live Such deaths again: such dampy mists no more Shall dare to draw an ugly screen before My clearer fancy; I'll not deify A failing beauty; idolize an eye. Farewell, farewell, poor joys! let not my hearse Bear witness I was ever mad in verse, Or play'd the fool in wit; no, I'll not have Such themes increase the mourning at my grave. Such thoughts I loathe, and cannot now resent; Who ever gloried in his excrement? Now I will rase those characters I wrote So fairly from myself, now will I not Suffer that pyramid, Love rais'd within My soul, to stand the witness of her sin; Nor will I ravish Nature to dispose A violated and profaned rose Upon a varnish'd cheek, nor lilies fear Into a jaundice, to be set where ne'er White was discover'd; no -- Stay, I'll no more Add new guilt to the old repented for, To name a sin's to sin; nor dare to break Jests of my vices on another's back, But with some searching humours festered lie A renegado to all Poetry. And must we now shake hands, dear madness, now, After so long acquaintance? Did I vow To sacrifice unto thee, what was brought, As surplusage of a severer thought, And break my word? Yes, from this very day My fancy only shall on Marchpan play; Now I'll turn politician, and see How useful onions are in drapery, Feast dunces that miscall the Arts, and dance With all the world a galliard Ignorance. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THOMAS MOORE (1) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER by BEN JONSON SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 48 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI FETES GALANTES: MANDOLINE by PAUL VERLAINE AMBITION AND CONTENT; A FABLE by MARK AKENSIDE ENIGMA. TO THE LADIES by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SEASIDE THOUGHTS by BERNARD BARTON |