Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BOSPHORUS REVISITED, by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN First Line: Has earth a lovelier sight to show Last Line: Our mortal being with the skies. Subject(s): Bosphorus, Strait | ||||||||
HAS earth a lovelier sight to show Than yonder strait whose waters flow Bordered with vineyards, summer bowers, White palaces, and ivied towers? How mellow upon snowy walls The tranquil light of morning falls; The various tints how softly blent On distant hill and battlement; What gleaming mist half veils the slopes, Fair as the haze of youthful hopes; How darkly blue or lucent green The current in the noonday sheen Goes by, anon impearled with spray, Or lingering in some sheltered bay, Where charmed pavilions skirt the marge, Where idly floats the fisher's barge, And ancient plane-trees shade the stream, Bidding the passer there to dream, Lapped in the arms of peaceful rest, As in the Islands of the Blest. There let my footsteps lead me down To gaze on palace, tower, and town; To taste the grape of purple hue, And peel the fig ice-cool with dew; To breathe the influence of the clime, And smoke the lotus of our time; Watching the white-winged vessels glide Like flocks of sea-fowl down the tide, Lulled by the sound of plunging oars Echoing along the wooded shores, Or soothed by the eerie wind that roves With whispers through the slumberous groves, Or dances through the tossing vines And sweeps the harp of dark-robed pines, Low murmuring to the dreamer's ears The requiem for the dying years. There let me linger till the rays Of sunset make the sky ablaze With vast magnificence that fires The imperial city's thousand spires. See, in the west, how, fold on fold, The clouds are gathered, massive gold; What glowing purple robes the shore, Richer than monarchs ever wore; The hill-tops and the distant isles Reflect the sun's departing smiles; The very cypresses that keep Stern watch above the dead man's sleep Have caught the glory of the scene, And woven its purple with their green. Then twilight's veil steals softly down O'er ruined tower and droning town; Lights quiver on the glassy deep, Ships at their moorings lie asleep, From festal halls voluptuous strains Float gently by in soft refrains, The nightingale's delicious trills Ring in the covert of the hills; And hark, upon the swooning air, The solemn voice that calls to prayer. But lo! the moon majestic looms Above the sea, and braids the glooms Of evening with her argent light, And summons to my wondering sight The brave and fair of olden time Who dwelt in this enchanted clime. Then let me tarry here awhile, O land of roses! in the smile O' th' Eastern sun; in the serene Elysian light of midnight's queen; Thankful that Time -- who turns our gold To ashes, cramps us in a mould Of social forms, and gives, instead Of youth's gay garlands crushed and dead, The abstractions of philosophy, Too purely cold to satisfy The ardent, earnest, restless soul Whose passionate yearnings scorn control -- Has left me still the power to enjoy The beautiful without alloy. The fervor of my earlier days Still warms my bosom when I gaze On all the lovely and sublime In this my own, my native clime. I count among God's choicest gifts That love of beauty which uplifts The weary soul above the prose Of life's routine, its toil and woes; That subtle spirit of poesy That joins the soul in harmony With outward objects, that imbues The humblest things with magic hues, Sublimes our nature, and allies Our mortal being with the skies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INCOGNITA IN THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN THE BATTLE OF VIENNA by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN THE OLD BRIDGE by SEYMOUR GREEN WHEELER BENJAMIN CINQUAIN: MOON-SHADOWS by ADELAIDE CRAPSEY TO THE PLIOCENE SKULL by FRANCIS BRET HARTE DIRGE FOR TWO VETERANS by WALT WHITMAN HEINE'S GRAVE by MATTHEW ARNOLD AFFINITIES by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE |
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