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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WE ALL DO FAIL AS A LEAF, by MIMNERMUS Poet's Biography First Line: We are as leaves in jewelled springtime growing Last Line: Zeus hath for all an endless store of ill. Alternate Author Name(s): Mimnermos | |||
WE are as leaves in jewelled springtime growing That open to the sunlight's quickening rays: So joy we in our span of youth, unknowing If God shall bring us good or evil days. Two fates beside thee stand; the one hath sorrow, Dull age's fruit, that other gives the boon Of Death, for youth's fair flower hath no to-morrow, And lives but as a sunlit afternoon. And when thine hour is spent, and passeth by thee, Surely to die were better than to live, Ere grief or evil fortune come anigh thee, And penury that hath but ill to give. Who longs for children's love, for all his yearning Shall haply pass to death anhungered still; Or pain shall come, his life to anguish turning, Zeus hath for all an endless store of ill. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SINE AMORE NIL EST JUCUNDUM by MIMNERMUS THE NEVER-RESTING SUN by MIMNERMUS RESURRECTION UPDATE by JAMES GALVIN DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 1. SUNRISE IN THE TROPICS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON EGOISME A DEUX' by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON TO HIS WIFE ON THE 16TH ANNIVERSARY OF HER WEDDING DAY, WITH A RING by SAMUEL BISHOP TO JOHN KEATS, POET, AT SPRING TIME by COUNTEE CULLEN ULYSSES AND THE SIREN by SAMUEL DANIEL NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY by ROBERT FROST THE BIGLOW PAPERS: 6. THE PIOUS EDITOR'S CREED by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |
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