Thompson read by Classic Poetry Aloud:

http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/

Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

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Envoy

by Francis Thompson

Go, songs, for ended is our brief, sweet play;

Go, children of swift joy and tardy sorrow:

And some are sung, and that was yesterday,

And some unsung, and that may be to-morrow.

Go forth; and if it be o'er stony way,

Old joy can lend what newer grief must borrow:

And it was sweet, and that was yesterday,

And sweet is sweet, though purchas-ed with sorrow.

Go, songs, and come not back from your far way:

And if men ask you why ye smile and sorrow,

Tell them ye grieve, for your hearts know To-day,

Tell them ye smile, for your eyes know To-morrow.