Where once I loved my flesh, That social fellow, Now I want security of bone And cherish the silence of my skeleton. Where once I walked the world Hunting the devil, Now I find the darkness and the void Within my side. First to be good, then to be happy I Worked and prayed. Before the midnight, like the foul fiend, I killed my dear friend. Hope unto hope, dream beyond monstrous dream I sought the world. Now, at the black pitch and midnight of despair, I find it was always here. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHARLIE MACHREE by WILLIAM JAMES HOPPIN WASHINGTON MONUMENT BY NIGHT by CARL SANDBURG ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 17. ON A SERMON AGAINST GLORY by MARK AKENSIDE THERE IS NOTHING STRANGE by ARCHILOCHUS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 92. AL-ZARR by EDWIN ARNOLD LOVE, DRINK, AND DEBT by ALEXANDER BROME PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANCE: DANIEL BARTOLI by ROBERT BROWNING |