Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Withered and Wizened and Stiff and Old
Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916), "The Fever," in Songs of Myself (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd., 1910), p. 16:
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I am withered and wizened and stiff and old,
Sick and hot, and I sigh for the cold,
For the days when all of the world was fresh
And all of me, my soul and my flesh,—
When my lips and my mouth were cool as the dew,
And my eyes, now worn, as clear, as new.
I wish I were lying out in the rain
In the wood at home, that the waters might strain
And stream through me— But here I lie
In a clammy room, and my soul is dry,
And shall never be fresh again till I die.
