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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MOTHER AND DAUGHTER; AN UNCOMPLETED SONNET SEQUENCE: 19 by AUGUSTA DAVIES WEBSTER

First Line: LIFE ON THE WANE: YES, SUDDEN THAT NEWS BREAKS
Last Line: LOVE WILL HAVE NEW GLAD SECRETS YET TO TEACH.
Subject(s): MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS; TIME;

Life on the wane: yes, sudden that news breaks.
And yet I would 'twere suddenly and less soon;
Since no forewarning makes loss opportune.
And now I watch that slow advance Time makes:
Watch as, while silent flow spreads broad the lakes
Mid the land levels of a smooth lagoon,
One waiting, pitiful, on a tidal dune,
Aware too long before it overtakes.

Ah! there's so quick a joy in hues and sun,
And will my eyes see dim? Will vacant sense
Forget the lark, the surges on the beach?
Shall I step wearily and wish 'twere done?
Well, if it be love will not too go hence,
Love will have new glad secrets yet to teach.





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