Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FACES, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I look into the faces of the people passing by Last Line: Stamped forever in the future on the faces that I love. Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie Subject(s): Faces | ||||||||
I look into the faces of the people passing by, The glad ones and the sad ones, and the lined with misery, And I wonder why the sorrow or the twinkle in the eye; But the pale and weary faces are the ones that trouble me. I saw a face this morning, and time was when it was fair; Youth had brushed it bright with color in the distant long ago, And the goddess of the lovely once had kept a temple there, But the cheeks were pale with grieving and the eyes were dull with woe. Who has done this thing I wondered; what has wrought the ruin here? Why these sunken cheeks and pallid where the roses once were pink? Why has beauty fled her palace; did some vandal hand appear? Did her lover prove unfaithful or her husband take to drink? Once the golden voice of promise whispered sweetly in her ears; She was born to be a garden where the smiles of love might lurk; Now the eyes that shone like jewels are but gateways for her tears, And she takes her place among us, toilers early bound for work. Is it fate that writes so sadly, or the cruelty of man? What foul deed has marred the parchment of a life so fair as this? Who has wrecked this lovely temple and destroyed the Maker's plan, Raining blows on cheeks of beauty God had fashioned just to kiss? Oh, the pale and weary faces of the people that I see Are the ones that seem to haunt me, and I pray to God above That such cruel desolation shall not ever come to be Stamped forever in the future on the faces that I love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHEN WE LOOK UP by DENISE LEVERTOV HISTORY OF MY FACE by KHALED MATTAWA WOMAN IN FRONT OF POSTER OF HERSELF by ALICE NOTLEY THE HOUSE OF DUST: 1 by CONRAD AIKEN LOOKING AT AGING FACES by ROBERT BLY WHAT MAKES THIS STATUE NOBLE SEEMING by KENNETH KOCH |
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