Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RHAPSODY, by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS Poet's Biography First Line: Lo! Here a cloud comes sailing, richly clad Last Line: And leaves us nought but vain regret behind. Alternate Author Name(s): Betham, Mary Matilda; Edwards, Matilda B.; Edwards, B. M. | ||||||||
LO! here a cloud comes sailing, richly clad In royal purple, which the parting beams Of bounteous Phoebus edge with tints of gold And lucid crimson. One might fancy it A noble bird, that laves its graceful form, And bathes its rosy bosom in the light. Look! how it swells and rears its snowy crest With haughty grandeur; while the blue expanse, In smiling patience lets the boaster pass, And swell his train with all the lazy vapours That hover in the air: an easy prey To the gigantic phantom, whose curled wing, Sweeps in these worthless triflers of the sky, And wraps them in his bosom. Go, vain shadow! Sick with the burthen of thy fancied greatness, A breath of zephyr wafts thee into nothing, Scatters thy spreading plumes, uncrowns thy front, And drives thee downward to thy mother earth, To mix with vapour and dissolve in dew. Such are the dreams of hope, which to the eye Of youthful inexperience, seem to touch The pure, unclouded sky of certainty. Buoyed up by the fond eloquence of thought, And nurtured by the smile of vanity, Each hour the air-born vision gathers bulk, And Fancy decks it with a thousand hues, Varied and wild, till it abounds in charms Which sink the soul to sadness, when the breath Of gentle Reason breaks the beauteous bubble, And leaves us nought but vain regret behind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARTHUR AND ALBINA by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS CEN'LIN, PRINCE OF MERCIA by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS EDITHA by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS FRAGMENT by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS GETHSEMANE by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS HUMAN PLEASURE OR PAIN by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS IN A LETTER TO A.R.C. ON HER WISHING TO BE CALLED ANNA by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS IN MEMORY OF AGOSTINO ISOLA, OF CAMBRIDGE, WHO DIED 1797 by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS INVITATION by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS ON A FAN by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS ON THE EVE OF DEPARTURE FROM O-- by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS |
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