Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A BITTER LOSS AND BARREN GAIN, by                    
First Line: Six hundred years have passed since bacon taught
Last Line: Increased the sum of human misery.


Six hundred years have passed since Bacon taught
That some day man, through conquered air, would fly.
Four centuries ago Da Vinci caught
The gleam, and pictured ships to cleave the sky.
Men's minds have soared, at oneness with the birds,
These countless years, some heaven to attain;
But in the end have found, O bitter words,
In all the sky's immensity, no gain.

While bombs are whining through the shattered sky
No birds can sing. The shadow and the shroud
Hang dark above the shambles of Shanghai
Where pestilence came raining from a cloud.
The dreamers of the past, unwittingly,
Increased the sum of human misery.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net