I looked for that which is not, nor can be, And hope deferred made my heart sick in truth: But years must pass before a hope of youth Is resigned utterly. I watched and waited with a steadfast will: And though the object seemed to flee away That I so longed for, ever day by day I watched and waited still. Sometimes I said: "This thing shall be no more; My expectation wearies and shall cease; I will resign it now and be at peace': Yet never gave it o'er. Sometimes I said: "It is an empty name I long for; to a name why should I give The peace of all the days I have to live? -- Yet gave it all the same. Alas, thou foolish one! alike unfit For healthy joy and salutary pain; Thou knowest the chase useless, and again Turnest to follow it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOTHER TO SON by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES THE DAYS GONE BY by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY TO A SQUIRREL AT KYLE-NA-NO by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS OXFORD IN WAR-TIME by LAURENCE BINYON BEYOND THE BARS by GEORGE E. BOWEN |