1 Should my early life seem, (As well it might,) a dream -- Yet I build no faith upon The king Napoleon -- I look not up afar For my destiny in a star: 2 In parting from you now Thus much I will avow -- There are beings, and have been Whom my spirit had not seen Had I let them pass me by With a dreaming eye -- If my peace hath fled away In a night -- or in a day -- In a vision -- or in none -- Is it therefore the less gone? -- 3 I am standing 'mid the roar Of a weather-beaten shore, And I hold within my hand Some particles of sand -- How few! and how they creep Thro' my fingers to the deep! My early hopes? no -- they Went gloriously away, Like lightning from the sky At once -- and so will I. 4 So young? ah! no -- not now -- Thou hast not seen my brow, But they tell thee I am proud -- They lie -- they lie aloud -- My bosom beats with shame At the paltriness of name With which they dare combine A feeling such as mine -- Nor Stoic? I am not: In the terror of my lot I laugh to think how poor That pleasure "to endure!" What! shade of Zeno! -- I! Endure! -- no -- no -- defy. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EMMELINE GRANGERFORD'S 'ODE TO STEPHEN DOLWING BOTS, DEC'D' by SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS THE PRIVATE OF THE BUFFS; OR, THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN CHINA by FRANCIS HASTINGS CHARLES DOYLE SUMMER DAWN by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) A TERRE (BEING THE PHILOSOPHY OF MANY SOLDIERS) by WILFRED OWEN HYMN OF FREEDDOM by MICHAEL JOSEPH BARRY ENVOI by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB |