1827
                      THE HAPPIEST DAY, THE HAPPIEST HOUR
                               by Edgar Allan Poe
 
      The happiest day- the happiest hour
        My sear'd and blighted heart hath known,
      The highest hope of pride and power,
        I feel hath flown.
 
      Of power! said I? yes! such I ween;
        But they have vanish'd long, alas!
      The visions of my youth have been-
        But let them pass.
 
      And, pride, what have I now with thee?
        Another brow may even inherit
      The venom thou hast pour'd on me
        Be still, my spirit!
 
      The happiest day- the happiest hour
        Mine eyes shall see- have ever seen,
      The brightest glance of pride and power,
        I feel- have been:
 
      But were that hope of pride and power
        Now offer'd with the pain
      Even then I felt- that brightest hour
        I would not live again:
 
      For on its wing was dark alloy,
        And, as it flutter'd- fell
      An essence- powerful to destroy
        A soul that knew it well.
 
 
                     -THE END-