# CXXII explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A brief, poetic reflection on the misery of a long life devoid of any true childhood or hope, leaving the individual in darkness from beginning to end.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Regret

The chapter laments a life cursed with length but lacking any joyful beginning or hopeful end, emphasizing regret and the darkness of mortality.

## Key lines

> Ah, woe is his, with length of living cursed, Who, nearing second childhood, had no first. Behind, no glimmer, and before no ray⁠— A night at either end of his dark day.

Alas, how miserable is the person cursed with a long life who, approaching a second childhood, never had a first one. There is no light behind him and no light ahead—only darkness at both ends of his gloomy day.

_The narrator expresses deep pity for someone who has lived long but without any true childhood or hope, surrounded by darkness._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/cxxii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters