I'VE snuff d at every smell that has birth In this delightful kitchen of earth; Each thing that the world contains that's delicious Have I enjoy'd like a hero ambitious; I've drunk my coffee, and eaten with zest, And many a charming doll caress'd, Worn silken waistcoats and handsome coats, And had my pockets well lined with notes; The high horse, like Gellert the poet, I rode, Had house and castle all a-la-mode. On fortune's verdant meadow I lay, While on me the sun gleam'd brightly all day, A wreath of laurel my brow embraced, And through my brain sweet visions raced, Sweet visions of endless May and flowers -- How happily fleeted then the hours, So dim and hazy, so full of repose, -- My mouth was fill'd with whatever I chose And angels came, and out of their pockets The champagne bottles flew like rockets, -- Bright visions were these, -- soap-bubbles, alas! They burst, -- and I lie on the humid grass; My limbs are now rheumatic and lame, My inmost spirit is fill'd with shame. Alas! each pleasure and gratification I bought at the price of bitter vexation; I'm steep'd in bitterness up to the chin, The bugs have terribly bitten my skin; Oppress'd by care and gloomy sorrow I needs must lie, and I needs must borrow From wealthy rascals, and slatterns vile, I even believe that I begg'd for a while. And now I would finish this wearisome race, And find in the grave a resting-place. Farewell! In yon heavens, good Christian brother, Once more we may hope to meet with each other. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SORROW by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE SONNET: 109 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ENOCH ARDEN by ALFRED TENNYSON ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 1: 16. PERSUASION by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE SUPPLIANTS: THE WORLD'S HARMONIOUS PLAN by AESCHYLUS |