The time I’ve lost in wooing…
I thought I’d share a favorite bit o’ Thomas Moore with you this evening. I absolutely fell in love with the first five lines of this back in my wandering college days, and I’m sure I used it as a sig back in the days. The original was published way back in 1817, but I find it holds great contemporary value, and is a choice bit of wisdom to ponder with the boys over a pint. And two decades later, I begin to appreciate that third stanza, which is an amusing counterpoint now that I’m “of an age”.
The time I've lost in wooing,
In watching and pursuing
The light, that lies
In woman's eyes,
Has been my heart's undoing.
Tho' Wisdom oft has sought me,
I scorned the lore she brought me,
My only books
Were woman's looks,
And folly's all they've taught me.
Her smile when Beauty granted,
I hung with gaze enchanted,
Like him the Sprite,
Whom maids by night
Oft meet in glen that's haunted.
Like him, too, Beauty won me,
But while her eyes were on me,
If once their ray
Was turned away,
O! winds could not outrun me.
And are those follies going?
And is my proud heart growing
Too cold or wise
For brilliant eyes
Again to set it glowing?
No, vain, alas! the endeavor
From bonds so sweet to sever;
Poor Wisdom's chance
Against a glance
Is now as weak as ever.