No! / Thomas Hood

  
No!

                    No sun — no moon!
                    No morn — no noon —
No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day —
                    No sky — no earthly view —
                    No distance looking blue —
No road — no street — no "t'other side the way" —
                    No end to any Row —
                    No indications where the Crescents go —
                    No top to any steeple —
No recognitions of familiar people —
                    No courtesies for showing 'em —
                    No knowing 'em! —
No travelling at all — no locomotion,
No inkling of the way — no notion —
"No go" — by land or ocean —
                    No mail — no post —
          No news from any foreign coast —
No Park — no Ring---no afternoon gentility —
                    No company — no nobility —
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
          No comfortable feel in any member —
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
          No fruits, no flow'rs, no leaves, no birds, —
                    November!

~~
Thomas Hood (1799-1845), 1844

from Works, 1862

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Thomas Hood biography