I HAVE known anguish, loss and disappointment, Touched the hand of madness, met the hope that hoped not, Yet do I love thee, O world, my mortal dwelling! Oh, how I love thee, sweet life that's mixed with sorrow, Fain to lose no fraction of thy tempestuous faring! Still do the milestones spin past ere I can count them: Soon will the journey with all its strange adventures Heaven-sent encounters, sweet coincidences; All that makes a poem, vivid, ample, mystic; Soon will it be over, and will not be repeated. Voices, faces, heart-beats, all that makes the drama, I shall have to leave them: though they are mine for ever, They will be transfigured: I would fain remember Their poor earthly weakness, dear in imperfection:— Stay, O Time, thy chariots; O Memory, seize thy tablets! Friends, who in a cottage have lived and loved together, May sigh when they leave it, though bound for a palace. Is it warm with memories, quick with life familiar? Earth, ere I leave thee, parting from my dearest, Hand in hand a moment, let us gaze and love thee! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LET ME NOT LOSES MY DREAM by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MAGDALEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TRANSPOSITIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SUGGESTED BY THE COVER OF A VOLUME OF KEATS'S POEMS by AMY LOWELL EARTH IS ENOUGH by EDWIN MARKHAM DILIGENCE IS TO MAGIC AS PROGRESS IS TO FLIGHT by MARIANNE MOORE |