Thursday, August 08, 2013
On the Hurry of This Time
Austin Dobson (1840-1921), "On the Hurry of This Time," in his Collected Poems, 5th ed. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd, 1902), p. 472:
Newer› ‹Older
(To F.G.)
With slower pen men used to write,
Of old, when "letters" were "polite;"
In ANNA'S, or in GEORGE'S days,
They could afford to turn a phrase
Or trim a straggling theme aright.
They knew not steam; electric light
Not yet had dazed their calmer sight;—
They meted out both blame and praise
With slower pen.
Too swiftly now the Hours take flight!
What's read at morn is dead at night:
Scant space have we for Art's delays,
Whose breathless thought so briefly stays,
We may not work—ah! would we might!—
With slower pen.
