WE might have been! ah, yes! we might have been Among the laurelled noblemen of thought, Who lift their species with them as they climb To deathless empire in the realm of gods; But some dark power -- we will not call it Fate -- We dare not call it Providence -- hath seized The helm of our strange destinies, and steered Right onward to the breakers. All is lost! Hope's siren song of promise faints in sighs, And joy -- (but she ne'er charmed us, save in days Of dim-remembered childhood); -- let it pass! Our lot's the lot of millions; for on life A blight is preying, and a mystic wrong Hath set our heartstrings to the tune of grief! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WINTER NIGHT by CH'IEN WEN OF LIANG ON THE RUINS OF A COUNTRY INN by PHILIP FRENEAU MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER DEATH by THOMAS HOOD COMFORT IN AFFLICTION by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN WISDOM UNAPPLIED by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A SOUL'S TRAGEDY; A DRAMA by ROBERT BROWNING |