Living

Ireland

by William Watson 1858–1935

From The Poems of William Watson (1893)

Living

In the wild and lurid desert, in the thunder-travelled ways,
'Neath the night that ever hurries to the dawn that still delays,
There she clutches at illusions, and she seeks a phantom goal
With the unattaining passion that consumes the unsleeping soul:
And calamity enfolds her, like the shadow of a ban,
And the niggardness of Nature makes the misery of man:
And in vain the hand is stretched to lift her, stumbling in the gloom,
While she follows the mad fen-fire that conducts her to her doom.

MLA

Watson, William. “Ireland.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/watson/33/.

Chicago

Watson, William. “Ireland.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/watson/33/.

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