Worldly Wisdom
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
If it were in my dead Past’s power
To let my Present bask
In some lost pleasure for an hour,
This is the boon I’d ask:
Re-pedestal from out the dust
Where long ago ‘twas hurled,
My beautiful incautious trust
In this unworthy world.
The symbol of my souls own truth –
I saw it go with tears –
The sweet unwisdom of my youth –
That vanished with the years.
Since knowledge brings us only grief,
I would return again
To happy ignorance and belief
In motives and in men.
For worldly wisdom learned in pain
Is in itself a cross,
Significant mayhap of gain,
Yet sign of saddest loss.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 88 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EXEX FGFG HIHI |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 594 |
Words | 113 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Worldly Wisdom" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/11016/worldly-wisdom>.
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