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Dinah Maria Mulock - A Fable
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SILENT and sunny was the way 
Where Youth and I danced on together: 
So winding and embowered o`er, 
We could not see one rood before. 
Nevertheless all merrily 
We bounded onward, Youth and I, 
Leashed closely in a silken tether: 
(Well-a-day, well-a-day!) 
Ah Youth, ah Youth, but I would fain 
See thy sweet foolish face again! 

It came to pass, one morn of May, 
All in a swoon of golden weather, 
That I through green leaves fluttering 
Saw Joy uprise on Psyche wing: 
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 other maddened boy 
I tracked my Psyche-wingèd 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.
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