 | The Poetry of Real Life |  |
RETROSPECTIVE.
Fortune hath stood between me and the planI fashioned for my youth and set apart—
Some one to love, in singleness of heart,
And Love me for myself, a simple man,
An unspoilt child of Nature—one who can
Not bear the chains of fashion or of art,
Still less the barter of the social mart,
Where Truth and Nature lie 'neath Custom's ban.
Yet could I love in very simpleness
Of heart, and dally with the innocence
Of Love, like the old age—for, I profess,
The world hath not another recompense,
Nor aught, in after-life, like Love to bless,
Sought for itself, without end or pretence!
| The Poetry of Real Life | |