#9: Years (Byron)
And the Years Too Long For Bearing
Once, in my youth, I felt like the sun:
Capricious and bright and alive.
My youth has not faded, but age has begun,
And I live no longer. I merely survive,
Watching the passing of all that I've known,
All of it fading, the good and the bad.
For Time destroyed all that I once called my own
And left me alone with the dreams I once had.
For still the all-conquering years must roll on:
The winds of change shall continue to blow.
My joys are a mask I must ever put on:
My fires are banked, and my embers now glow
With a fading light. My time has been spent,
And yet I still live, and can only regret
The flame I once carried wherever I went:
And exist, though the sun of my soul is long set.