Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHAMELEON, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I know that I'm like, yet I am not, a snake! Last Line: Wherein all lovely things can smile back on themselves! Subject(s): Chameleons | ||||||||
I KNOW that I'm like, yet I am not, a snake! 'Tis true that I glisten by boll and by brake, That I dart out and in, can glide, quiver and coil As swift as the lightning, but softer than oil, Yet a creature more innocent never was drawn From the gray of cool shadows to bask in the dawn! If I pause by a brook the rock-currents divide, I grow silvery-white as the foam of its tide; If 'mid dew-freshened meadows at sunrise I pass, There's a shaft of pure emerald shot through the grass. When to gay garden-closes I joyfully turn, 'Tis mine with all hues, of their roses to burn; I reflect each bright blush that the petals have won Of their young virgin-flowers from the kiss of the sun. My skin's a clear mirror, a glass of the elves, In which all lovely tints can smile back on themselves! Stranger still! for on ugliness mirrored therein, Though it tarnish a moment, this magical skin, On the dark and uncouth some slight beauty's bestowed; Why, even that dull little hunch back, the toad, I endow with faint outlines of sweetness and grace, While the newt, glancing down on his lop-sided face, Reflected, -- in pity, -- by softened degrees, Almost dreams he was formed by kind Nature to please! Ah, therefore, sweet maiden, shrink not when you see My lithe body reposing by streamlet or tree; But kneel down where I rest, and all mellowed behold Your eyes of deep blue, and your ringlets of gold, In my miniature mirror, my glass of the elves, Wherein all lovely things can smile back on themselves! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A CHAMELEON by MARIANNE MOORE EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 24. COMPLIANCE IN LOVE by PHILIP AYRES THE CHAMELEON AND THE DOCTOR by FAIRFAX DOWNEY THE CHAMELEON by MATTHEW PRIOR CHAMELEON AT HOME by DUANE ACKERSON CHAMELEON by ALAN PATRICK HERBERT CHAMELEON by EDWARD HARRY WILLIAM MEYERSTEIN A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE |
|