Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONNET: 239, by LUIS DE CAMOENS Poet's Biography First Line: Beside the streams of babylon, in tears Last Line: May my right hand forget its cunning too! Alternate Author Name(s): Camoes, Luis De; Camoens, Luiz Vaz De Subject(s): Travel | ||||||||
BESIDE the streams of Babylon, in tears Of vain desire, we sat; remembering thee, O hallowed Sion! and the vanished years, When Israel's chosen sons were blest and free: Our harps, neglected and untuned, we hung Mute on the willows of the stranger's land; When songs, like those that in thy fanes we sung, Our foes demanded from their captive-band. How shall our voices, on a foreign shore, (We answered those whose chains the exile wore,) The songs of God, our sacred songs, renew? If I forgot, 'midst grief and wasting toil, Thee, O Jerusalem! my native soil! May my right hand forget its cunning too! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES WHERE THE TRACK VANISHES by GALWAY KINNELL |
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