Sunday, July 22, 2007

Remorseful Day


How clear, how lovely bright,
How beautiful to sight
Those beams of morning play;
How heaven laughs out with glee
Where, like a bird set free,
Up from the eastern sea
Soars the delightful day.

To-day I shall be strong,
No more shall yield to wrong,
Shall squander life no more;
Days lost, I know not how,
I shall retrieve them now;
Now I shall keep the vow
I never kept before.

Ensanguining the skies
How heavily it dies
Into the west away;
Past touch and sight and sound
Not further to be found,
How hopeless under ground
Falls the remorseful day.
a.e. housman

1 comment:

John K. Smith said...

The last segment of this poem was quoted by Morse in the final episode of the excellent British BBC series :Inspector Morse." The episode, titled "The Remorseful Day," was the last in the series, and ended in Morse's own death on his personal "remorseful day." This intelligent series was sprinkled with references to art, music, and literature which made it a joy to behold.