Dejection

Basso continuo

A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear,

       A stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief . . .

—Coleridge, “Dejection: An Ode”

Were it but that, I would prefer some pang,

I might suppose if I were still deceived

By songs that in the old days once were sung,

Knowing myself, who unwisely believed

The fantasies of that heroic gang

With whom when younger I interred my bet,

But having learned: The unwise are all mad,

And its painful corollary regret:

Those who do no good may be viewed as bad,

Ask what’s the point conceding anything?

Yelp all you like, there’s nothing to be had,

Much though we ought to make the welkin ring!

 Note: “welkin” = the sky, heaven, cf. German Wolken, clouds. King Richard to his troops, Bosworth Field, August 22, 1485: “Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!” (Shakespeare, Richard III, 5.3.432).

Monday, February 22, 2026