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LATER LIFE: A DOUBLE SONNET OF SONNETS, 25, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When we consider what this life we lead
Last Line: To hold in lieu of all so poor a part?
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina


When we consider what this life we lead
Is not, and is: how full of toil and pain,
How blank of rest and of substantial gain,
Beset by hunger earth can never feed,
And propping half our hearts upon a reed;
We cease to mourn lost treasures, mourned in vain,
Lost treasures we are fain and yet not fain
To fetch back for a solace of our need.
For who that feel this burden and this strain,
This wide vacuity of hope and heart,
Would bring their cherished well-beloved again:
To bleed with them and wince beneath the smart,
To have with stinted bliss such lavish bane,
To hold in lieu of all so poor a part?





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