Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TRUTH AND SORROW, by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TRUTH AND SORROW, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths
Last Line: And we are fools, and there's an end of us.
Subject(s): Grief; Truth; Sorrow; Sadness


NIGHT brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths;
Though many, yet they help not; bright, they light not.
They are too late to serve us; and sad things
Are aye too true. We never see the stars
Till we can see naught but them. So with truth.
And yet if one would look down a deep well,
Even at noon, we might see these same stars,
Far fairer than the blinding blue: the truth
Stars in the water like a dark bright eye,
But there are other eyes men better love
Than truth's, for when we have her she is so cold
And proud, we know not what to do with her...
Sometimes the thought comes swiftening over us,
Like a small bird winging the still blue air,
And then again at other times it rises
Slow, like a cloud which scales the skies all breathless,
And just o'erhead lets itself down on us.
Sometimes we feel the wish across the mind
Rush, like a rocket roaring up the sky,
That we should join with God and give the world
The go-by; but the world meantime turns round,
And peeps us in the face; the wanton world;
We feel it gently pressing down our arm,
The arm we raised to do for truth such wonders;
We feel it softly bearing on our side;
We feel it touch and thrill us through the body;
And we are fools, and there's an end of us.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net