Who Had He Not Sought Such Fatal Lethe

The playwright was most effective As the dramatic illuminator Of his own tristful destiny As well as those of his kinfolk. And of the two plays that treat Of the tragic Tyrones One features James, His wistful pheere Mary, And his two troubled offspring   A quartette of characters Based respectively Upon O'Neill's father James, His mother Ella, O'Neill himself, And his elder brother, Jamie Who had he not sought Such fatal Lethe Might have evolved into A great actor like his father, Or a writer like his brother, Such was the luminous Brilliance of his early promise. How richly blessed he'd been At birth with charm and intellect. While part of the Minim Department Of Notre Dame University, He was a favoured prince Destined for a future As a Catholic gentleman Of exquisite breeding And learning; and then A prize-winning scholar At Fordham, from which He came to be expelled For a foolish indiscretion.   While the other is an account Of poor Jim Tyrone's Last attempt at securing Some kind of earthly felicity, Through his love for Josie, a Woman with a heart as vast As the sorrows of his life, A Moon for the Misbegotten.