Who hath ever felt the change of love And known those pangs that the losers prove May paint my face without seeing me, And write the state how my fancies be The loathsome buds grown on sorrow's tree: But who by hearsay speaks, and hath not fully felt What kind of fires they be in which those spirits melt Shall guess, and fail, what doth displease; Feeling my pulse, miss my disease. O no, O no; trial only shows The bitter juice of forsaken woes, Where former bliss present ills do stain -- Nay, former bliss adds to present pain, While remembrance doth both states contain. Come, learners, then, to me, the model of mishap, Engulfed in despair, slid down from fortune's lap; And as you like my double lot, Tread in my steps, or follow not. For me, alas, I am full resolved Those bands, alas, shall not be dissolved, Nor break my word, though reward come late, Nor fail my faith in my failing fate, Nor change in change, though change change my state: But always one myself with eagle-eyed truth to fly Up to the sun, although the sun my wings do fry: For if those flames burn my desire, Yet shall I die in Phoenix' fire. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE ON A GRECIAN URN by JOHN KEATS MEMORIAL TO D.C.: 5. ELEGY by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER by JOHN MILTON BITTERNESS by VICTORIA MARY SACKVILLE-WEST UPON A SPIDER CATCHING A FLY by EDWARD TAYLOR THE PUMPKIN by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER ECHOES OF SPRING: 5 by MATHILDE BLIND |