Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=339894" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Wormwood and Nightshade</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The troubles of life are many,<br>The pleasures of life are few ;<br>When we sat in the sunlight, Annie,<br>I dreamt that the skies were blue—<br>When we sat in the sunlight, Annie,<br>I dreamt that the earth was green ;<br>There is little colour, if any,<br>'Neath the sunlight now to be seen.<br> <br>Then the rays of the sunset glinted<br>Through the blackwoods' emerald bough<br>On an emerald sward, rose-tinted,<br>And spangled, and gemm'd ;—and now<br>The rays of the sunset redden<br>With a sullen and lurid frown,<br>From the skies that are dark and leaden,<br>To earth that is dusk and brown.<br> <br>To right and to left extended<br>The uplands are blank and drear,<br>And their neutral tints are blended<br>With the dead leaves sombre and sere :<br>The cold grey mist from the still side<br>Of the lake creeps sluggish and sure,<br>Bare and bleak is the hill-side,<br>Barren and bleak the moor.<br> <br>Bright hues and shapes intertwisted,<br>Fair forms and rich colours ;—now<br>They have flown—if e'er they existed—<br>It matters not why or how.<br>It matters not where or when, dear,<br>They have flown, the blue and the green,<br>I thought on what might be then, dear,<br>Now I think on what might have been.<br> <br>What might have been !—words of folly ;<br>What might be !—speech for a fool ;<br>With mistletoe round me, and holly,<br>Scarlet and green, at Yule,<br>With the elm in the place of the wattle,<br>And in lieu of the gum, the oak,<br>Years back I believed a little,<br>And as I believed I spoke.<br> <br>Have I done with those childish fancies ?<br>They suited the days gone by,<br>When I pulled the poppies and pansies,<br>When I hunted the butterfly,<br>With one who has long been sleeping,<br>A stranger to doubts and cares,<br>And to sowing that ends in reaping<br>Thistles, and thorns, and tares.<br> <br>What might be !—the dreams were scatter'd,<br>As chaff is toss'd by the wind,<br>The faith has been rudely shattered<br>That listen'd with credence blind ;<br>Things were to have been, and therefore<br>They were, and they are to be,<br>And will be ;—we must prepare for<br>The doom we are bound to dree.<br> <br>Ah, me ! we believe in evil,<br>Where once we believed in good,<br>The world, the flesh, and the devil<br>Are easily understood ;<br>The world, the flesh, and the devil,<br>Their traces on earth are plain ;<br>Must they always riot and revel<br>While footprints of man remain ?<br> <br>Talk about better and wiser,<br>Wiser and worse are one,<br>The sophist is the despiser<br>Of all things under the sun ;<br>Is nothing real but confusion ?<br>Is nothing certain but death ?<br>Is nothing fair save illusion ?<br>Is nothing good that has breath ?<br> <br>Some sprite, malignant and elfish,<br>Seems present, whispering close,<br>'All motives of life are selfish,<br>All instincts of life are gross ;<br>And the song that the poet fashions,<br>And the love-bird's musical strain,<br>Are jumbles of animal passions,<br>Refined by animal pain.'<br> <br>The restless throbbings and burnings<br>That hope unsatisfied brings,<br>The weary longings and yearnings<br>For the mystical better things,<br>Are the sands on which is reflected<br>The pitiless moving lake,<br>Where the wanderer falls dejected,<br>By a thirst he never can slake.<br> <br>A child blows bubbles that glitter,<br>He snatches them, they disperse ;<br>Yet childhood's folly is better,<br>And manhood's folly is worse ;<br>Gilt baubles we grasp at blindly<br>Would turn in our hands to dross ;<br>'Tis a fate less cruel than kindly<br>Denies the gain and the loss.<br> <br>And as one who pursues a shadow,<br>As one who hunts in a dream,<br>As the child who crosses the meadow,<br>Enticed by the rainbow's gleam,<br>I—knowing the course was foolish,<br>And guessing the goal was pain,<br>Stupid, and stubborn, and mulish—<br>Followed and follow again.<br> <br>The sun over Gideon halted,<br>Holding aloof the night,<br>When Joshua's arm was exalted,<br>Yet never retraced his flight ;<br>Nor will he turn back, nor can he,<br>He chases the future fast ;<br>The future is blank—oh, Annie !<br>I fain would recall the past.<br> <br>There are others toiling and straining<br>'Neath burdens graver than mine ;<br>They are weary, yet uncomplaining—<br>I know it, yet I repine ;<br>I know it, how time will ravage,<br>How time will level, and yet<br>I long with a longing savage,<br>I regret with a fierce regret.<br> <br>You are no false ideal,<br>Something is left of you,<br>Present, perceptible, real,<br>Palpable, tangible, true ;<br>One shred of your broken necklace,<br>One tress of your pale, gold hair,<br>And a heart so utterly reckless,<br>That the worst it would gladly dare.<br> <br>There is little pleasure, if any,<br>In waking the past anew ;<br>My days and nights have been many ;<br>Lost chances many I rue—<br>My days and nights have been many ;<br>Now I pray that they be few,<br>When I think on the hill-side, Annie,<br>Where I dreamt that the skies were blue.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Adam+Lindsay+Gordon">Adam Lindsay Gordon</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=339894" data-title="Wormwood and Nightshade de Adam Lindsay Gordon" data-description="The troubles of life are many,
The pleasures of life are few ;
When we sat in the sunlight, Annie,
I dreamt that the skies were blue—
When we sat in the sunlight, Annie,
I dreamt that the earth was green ;
There is little colour, if any,
'Neath ..."></div>
</div>
</div>