from In Memoriam

Section 27
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

This is one section of a 132-section piece. It was written over the course of seventeen years. It contains a famous line that is quoted on a whim.


I envy not in any moods
     The captive void of noble rage,
     The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods;

I envy not the beast that takes
     His license in the field of time,
     Unfettered by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes;

Nor, what may count itself as blest,
     The heart that never plighted troth
     But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;
Nor any want-begotten rest.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
     I feel it, when I sorrow most;
     'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.


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