The sickness of desire, that in dark days <br />Looks on the imagination of despair, <br />Forgetteth man, and stinteth God his praise; <br />Nor but in sleep findeth a cure for care. <br />Incertainty that once gave scope to dream <br />Of laughing enterprise and glory untold, <br />Is now a blackness that no stars redeem, <br />A wall of terror in a night of cold. <br />Fool! thou that hast impossibly desired <br />And now impatiently despairest, see <br />How nought is changed: Joy's wisdom is attired <br />Splendid for others' eyes if not for thee: <br />Not love or beauty or youth from earth is fled: <br />If they delite thee not, 'tis thou art dead.<br /><br />Robert Seymour Bridges<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/melancholia-2/
