Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774). O Memory! Thou Fond Deceiver. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1909. The Book of Georgian Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.

O Memory! Thou Fond Deceiver

By Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774)


O MEMORY! 1 thou fond deceiver,
Still importunate and vain,
To former joys recurring ever,
And turning all the past to pain;

Thou, like the world, the oppress’d oppressing,	5
Thy smiles increase the wretch’s woe;
And he who wants each other blessing
In thee must ever find a foe.

Note 1. From the Oratorio of the Captivity. [back]