I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day,
What times, O what black times we've spent
This night! What sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet more long light's slow way.
Well vouched for I speak this. But where I say
Times I mean years, mean life. What I give vent
Is cries past count, cries like old dead mail sent
To most dear him that lives, oh woe! not here.
I am gall, I am burnt heart. God's rule most deep
Tart tongued would have me taste: my taste was me;
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.
Own yeast of soul a dull dough turns bad. I see
The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweat drenched selves; but worse.
-- Dad Small Hops
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