'Tis all in vain, it may not last, <br />The sickly sunlight dies away, <br />And the thick clouds that veil the past, <br />Roll darkly o'er my present day. <br />Have I not flung them off, and striven <br />To seek some dawning hope in vain; <br />Have I not been for ever driven <br />Back to the bitter past again? <br />What though a brighter sky bends o'er <br />Scenes where no former image greets me, <br />Though lost in paths untrod before, <br />Here, even here, pale Memory meets me. <br />O life—O blighted bloomless tree! <br />Why cling thy fibres to the earth? <br />Summer can bring no flower to thee, <br />Autumn no bearing, spring no birth. <br />Bid me not strive, I'll strive no more, <br />To win from pain my joyless breast; <br />Sorrow has ploughed too deeply o'er <br />Life's Eden—let it take the rest!<br /><br />Frances Anne Kemble<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lines-46/
