Page:Poems Craik.djvu/33

Eagerly, too eagerly
We followed after,—Youth and I,—
  Till suddenly he slipped the tether:
   (Well-a -day, well-a-day!)
"Where art thou, Youth?" I cried. In vain;
He never more came back again.

Yet onward through the devious way
  In rain or shine, I recked not whether,
Like many another maddened boy
I tracked my Psyche-winged Joy;
Till, curving round the bowery lane,
Lo,—in the pathway stood pale Pain,
  And we met face to face together:
   (Well-a -day, well-a-day!)
"Whence comest thou?"—and I writhed in vain—
"Unloose thy cruel grasp, O Pain!"

But he would not. Since, day by day
  He has ta'en up Youth's silken tether
And changed it into iron bands.
So through rich vales and barren lands
Solemnly, all solemnly,
March we united, he and I;
  And we have grown such friends together
   (Well-a-day, well-a-day!)
I and this my brother Pain,
I think we'll never part again.