Phaon (bitterly)
Thus women change-and in their time forget!
Sappho
THERE lies the sorrow-if we could forget!
For one brief hour you gave me all the love
That women ask, and then with cruel hands
Set free the singing voices from the cage,
And tore the glory from the waiting rose;
And through life’s empty garden still I dreamed
And called for Love, and walked unsatisfied.
Love! Love! ‘Tis we who lose it know it best!
By day a fire and wonder, and by night
A wheeling star that sinks in Mystery.
Love! Love! It is the blue of bluest skies;
The farthest green of waters touched with sun!
It is the calm of moonlight and of leaves,
And yet the troubled music of the Sea!
It is the frail original of faith,
The timorous thing that seems afraid of light,
Yet, loosened, sweeps the world, consuming time
And tinsel empires, grim with blood and war!
It is the voiceless want and loneliness
Of blighted lands made wonderful with rain!
Regret it is, and song, and wistful tears;
The rose upon the tomb of afterthought,
The only wine of life, that on the lip
Of Thirst turns not to ashes! Change and time
And sorrow kneel to it, for at its touch
The world is beautiful, . . . the world is born!
(Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer)
More Poetry from Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer:
Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer Poems based on Topics: Life, Love, Fire, Beauty, World, Change, Sadness, Light, Curiosity, War & Peace, Mystery- The Old Garden (Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer Poems)
- The Lure o' Life (Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer Poems)
- The Keeper (Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer Poems)
- Destiny (Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer Poems)
- The Final Lesson (Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Life Poems, World Poems, Light Poems, Sadness Poems, War & Peace Poems, Fire Poems, Beauty Poems, Success Poems, Belief & Faith Poems, Change PoemsBased on Keywords: afterthought, bluest, phaon, change-and
- Book III - Part 03 - The Soul is Mortal (Lucretius Poems)
- Out Of The East (John Freeman Poems)
- The Golden Legend: VI. The School Of Salerno (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poems)
- Of The Nature Of Things: Book II - Part 03 - Atomic Forms And Their Combinations (Lucretius Poems)
- Clifton Grove (Henry Kirke White Poems)