Explore "Ambition" by Madison Cawein on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Now to my lips lift then some opiate / Of black forgetfulness! while in thy gaze / Still lures the loveless beauty that betrays, / And in thy mouth the music that is hate. / No promise more hast thou to make me wait; / No smile to cozen my sick heart with praise! / Far, far behind thee stretch laborious days, / And far before thee, labors soon and late. / Thine is the fen-fire that we deem a star, / Flying before us, ever fugitive, / Thy mocking policy still holds afar: / And thine the voice, to which our longings give / Hope's siren face, that speaks us sweet and fair, / Only to lead us captives to Despair.