Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE HOME OF LOVE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Thou mov'st in visions, love! Around thy way Last Line: Love! Thy sole home is heaven Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea Subject(s): Heaven; Love; Paradise | ||||||||
THOU mov'st in visions, Love! Around thy way, E'en through this world's rough path and changeful day, For ever floats a gleam -- Not from the realms of moonlight or the morn, But thine own soul's illumined chambers born -- The colouring of a dream! Love! shall I read thy dream? Oh! is it not All of some sheltering wood-embosomed spot -- A bower for thee and thine? Yes! lone and lowly is that home; yet there Something of heaven in the transparent air Makes every flower divine. Something that mellows and that glorifies, Breathes o'er it ever from the tender skies, As o'er some blessed isle; E'en like the soft and spiritual glow Kindling rich woods, whereon th' ethereal bow Sleeps lovingly awhile. The very whispers of the wind have there A flute-like harmony, that seems to bear Greeting from some bright shore, Where none have said farewell! -- where no decay Lends the faint crimson to the dying day; Where the storm's might is o'er. And there thou dreamest of Elysian rest, In the deep sanctuary of one true breast Hidden from earthly ill: There wouldst thou watch the homeward step, whose sound, Wakening all nature to sweet echoes round, Thine inmost soul can thrill. There by the hearth should many a glorious page, From mind to mind the immortal heritage, For thee its treasures pour; Or music's voice at vesper hours be heard, Or dearer interchange of playful word, Affection's household lore. And the rich unison of mingled prayer, The melody of hearts in heavenly air, Thence duly should arise; Lifting th' eternal hope, th' adoring breath, Of spirits, not to be disjoined by death, Up to the starry skies. There, dost thou well believe, no storm should come To mar the stillness of that angel-home; There should thy slumbers be Weighed down with honey-dew, serenely blessed, Like theirs who first in Eden's grove took rest Under some balmy tree. Love! Love! thou passionate in joy and woe! And canst thou hope for cloudless peace below -- Here, where bright things must die? O thou! that, wildly worshipping, dost shed On the frail altar of a mortal head Gifts of infinity! Thou must be still a trembler, fearful Love! Danger seems gathering from beneath, above, Still round thy precious things; Thy stately pine-tree, or thy gracious rose, In their sweet shade can yield thee no repose, Here, where the blight hath wings. And as a flower, with some fine sense imbued, To shrink before the wind's vicissitude, So in thy prescient breast Are lyre-strings quivering with prophetic thrill To the low footstep of each coming ill: Oh! canst thou dream of rest? Bear up thy dream! thou mighty and thou weak! Hear, strong as death, yet as a reed to break -- As a flame, tempest-swayed! He that sits calm on high is yet the source Whence thy soul's current hath its troubled course, He that great deep hath made! Will He not pity? -- He whose searching eye Reads all the secrets of thine agony? -- Oh! pray to be forgiven Thy fond idolatry, thy blind excess, And seek with Him that bower of blessedness. Love! thy sole home is heaven | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE END OF LIFE by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 6 by CONRAD AIKEN THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#19): 2. MORE ABOUT THE DEAD MAN AND WINTER by MARVIN BELL THE WORLDS IN THIS WORLD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR A SKELETON FOR MR. PAUL IN PARADISE; AFTER ALLAN GUISINGER by NORMAN DUBIE BEAUTY & RESTRAINT by DANIEL HALPERN HOW IT WILL HAPPEN, WHEN by DORIANNE LAUX IF THIS IS PARADISE by DORIANNE LAUX A DIRGE (1) by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS |
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