When I review the course that I have run,

[ZaunköniG]

When I review the course that I have run,
And count the loss of all my wasted days,
I find no argument for joy or praise
In whatsoe'er my soul hath thought or done.

I am a desert, and the kindly sun
On me hath vainly spent his fertile rays.
Then wherefore do I tune my idle lays,
Or dream that haply I may be the one

Of the vain thousands, that shall win a place
Among the Poets, - that a single rhyme
Of my poor wit's devising may find grace

To breed high memories in the womb of time?
But to confound the time the Muse I woo;
Then 'tis but just that time confound me too.