Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE END OF AODH-OF-THE-SONGS, by WILLIAM SHARP


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE END OF AODH-OF-THE-SONGS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The swift years slip and slide adown the steep
Last Line: Pain that alone survives, gaunt hound of the shadowy years.
Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona
Subject(s): Aging; Grief; Time; Sorrow; Sadness


The swift years slip and slide adown the steep;
The slow years pass; neither will come again.
Yon huddled years have weary eyes that weep,
These laugh, these moan, these silent frown, these plain,
These have their lips curl'd up with proud disdain.

O years with tears, and tears through weary years,
How weary I who in your arms have lain:
Now, I am tired: the sound of slipping spears
Moves soft, and tears fall in a bloody rain,
And the chill footless years go over me who am slain.

I hear, as in a wood, dim with old light, the rain,
Slow falling; old, old, weary, human tears:
And in the deepening dark my comfort is my Pain,
Sole comfort left of all my hopes and fears,
Pain that alone survives, gaunt hound of the shadowy years.





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