Alas [– a fragment]

 

 

Alas, Alas, the mirror's retrospection
Is all that time has left us of that age,
And even that is but a faint reflection
Of what is written on that beauteous page
The history of childhood and of youth
Ere sweetest day-dreams have been quenched by truth,
If truth it be while that takes Minerva’s stamp
Yet make us long for poor Aladdin's lamp [.]