| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | “I vex me not with brooding on the years” | | By Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) |
| | | I VEX me not with brooding on the years | |
| That were ere I drew breath: why should I then | |
| Distrust the darkness that may fall again | |
| When life is done? Perchance in other spheres— | |
| Dead planets—I once tasted mortal tears, | 5 |
| And walked as now among a throng of men, | |
| Pondering things that lay beyond my ken, | |
| Questioning death, and solacing my fears. | |
| Ofttimes indeed strange sense have I of this, | |
| Vague memories that hold me with a spell, | 10 |
| Touches of unseen lips upon my brow, | |
| Breathing some incommunicable bliss! | |
| In years foregone, O Soul, was all not well? | |
| Still lovelier life awaits thee. Fear not thou! | | | | |
|
|
