Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PARADOX OF TIME, by PIERRE DE RONSARD Poet's Biography First Line: Time goes, you say? Ah, no! Last Line: Alas, time stays, -- we go! Subject(s): Time | ||||||||
'Le temps s'en va, le temps s'en va, ma dame! Las! le temps non: mais NOUS nous en allons!' TIME goes, you say? Ah no! Alas, Time stays, we go; Or else, were this not so, What need to chain the hours, For Youth were always ours? Time goes, you say? -- ah no! Ours is the eyes' deceit Of men whose flying feet Lead through some landscape low; We pass, and think we see The earth's fixed surface flee: -- Alas, Time stays, -- we go! Once in the days of old, Your locks were curling gold, And mine had shamed the crow. Now, in the self-same stage, We've reached the silver age; Time goes, you say? -- ah no! Once, when my voice was strong, I filled the woods with song To praise your 'rose' and 'snow'; My bird, that sang, is dead; Where are your roses fled? Alas, Time stays, -- we go! See, in what traversed ways, What backward Fate delays The hopes we used to know; Where are our old desires? -- Ah, where those vanished fires? Time goes, you say? -- ah no! How far, how far, O Sweet, The past behind our feet Lies in the even-glow! Now, on the forward way, Let us fold hands, and pray; Alas, Time stays, -- we go! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEVEN EYES: FINAL SECTION by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: COME OCTOBER by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: TIME IS FILLED by LYN HEJINIAN SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN ALL THE DIFFICULT HOURS AND MINUTES by JANE HIRSHFIELD A DAY IS VAST by JANE HIRSHFIELD FROM THIS HEIGHT by TONY HOAGLAND RETURN OF SPRING by PIERRE DE RONSARD |
|