Classic Poem

— I feel afraid,
For half my life is spent
From lovely light in loathsome banishment.
Why is this strange recurring darkness sent,
— Shade of a shade?

— Where'er I go,
The other creatures hide.
No dappled fawn will linger at my side,
No little bird in peace with me abide.
— Why is it so?

— I dare not trust
Even my brothers, — men.
Like beasts, they would but lure me to a den,
To rob and plunder me, and lay me then
— Low in the dust.

— I fear to live.
Life without joy is long.
When they are gone who helped to sing the song,
What, save an infinite chance of going wrong
— Hath it to give?

— I fear to die.
I know not what I fear
In fearing death, — but O, when death draws near,
Life at its worst less dreadful doth appear,
— I turn and fly.