THEY who have failed us -- ah, the searching hurt No forethought could avert! But they who failed us did not fall away To-day nor yesterday; But very long ago, had we but seen, The shadow fell between; A rift, a little rift that still must grow -- 'Twas there, full long ago! Ay, long ago as birth began that flaw Which Fate the spinner saw! Oh, they who failed us, long ago they failed; Naught we might do availed. Their being's law, more dominant than they, Marked out their cleaving way; And they must part from us, if those more kin Their fealties could win. They who have failed us, failed not their own law When thus they did withdraw. Ask, ere their memories should be assailed, "Who is it I have failed? "Perchance I know it not, yet they in me May but a recreant see -- A truth, a light they loved in me has paled -- Who is it I have failed?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE PLIOCENE SKULL by FRANCIS BRET HARTE THE CASE OF SABRINA SIMPSON USCH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS PAMPINEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH TO DR. AIKIN ON HIS COMPLAINING THAT SHE NEGLECTED HIM by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SONGS OF NIGHT TO MORNING: 3 by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |