Above:  Victorian Men

Why thus for naught have I been spared so long?

One so averse to right, so apt in wrong.

Where are those pleasures, and that lasting joy,

This age did promise when I was a boy?

Ah!  future still her phantom form is seen;

And still receding, as before ‘t has been.

Like to the rainbow’s form arched in the skies,

‘Tis near, it seems, but as we approach it flies.

So, pleasure unalloyed, seemed just ahead,

But as I sought the prize, alas!  ‘t had fled.

O!  goddess false, thy subtlety I know;

For where I thought most joy, I found most woe.

Experience sad against thy wiles advise;

For he, who seeks, seeks sorrow in disguise.

JOHN DODSON TAYLOR, SR.