A COMPLAINT
Oh! why let all these wingèd days slip past us!
Will you not give me leave with those dear eyes,
To taste the sweets of our new paradise,
Beyond the outer dark where fate has cast us?
Must we for ever see the golden portal
Yet ne'er in glad abandon enter in?
Dear heart, if loving be so great a sin
Why have the gods decreed that man be mortal!
And why were you created in their likeness,
And why was I ordained to be your slave,
If in the twilight I must dig a grave,
Wherein to hide my heart from morning's brightness?
I tell you no! I will not leave untasted
One drop of sweetness life may hold for me:
Who scorns the present for eternity
I count that soul a sorry fool and wasted.