HE stood alone in an unpitying crowd -- His mates fell from him, as the grub worms drop From the green stalk that once had nourished them, But now is withered and all rottenness Because it gave such shelter. Pleasure's train -- The light-winged tribes that seek the sunshine only -- No more endeavoured from his eye to win The smile of approbation. Grief and Care Stalked forth upon the theatre of his heart, In many a gloomy and mishapen guise, Till of the glories of his earlier self The world, his base and hollow auditory, Left but a ghastly phantom. As a tree, A goodly tree -- that stricken is and wasted, By elemental conflicts -- falls at last, Even in the fulness of its branching honours, Prostrate before the storm -- yet majestic In its huge downfal, so, at last, fell he! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DUTY SURVIVING SELF-LOVE; THE ONLY SURE FRIEND OF DECLINING LIFE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 17 by OMAR KHAYYAM IKE WALTON'S PRAYER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY MAY (1) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI KENTUCKY BELLE by CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON COMPARES THE TROUBLES WHICH HE HAS UNDERGONE, TO LABOURS OF HERCULES by PHILIP AYRES MR. PETER'S STORY: THE BAGMAN'S DOG by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |