Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE LABYRINTH, by HENRY KING (1592-1669) Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Life is a crooked labyrinth, and we Last Line: Those never clouded, nor that overcast. Subject(s): Life | ||||||||
LIFE is a crooked labyrinth, and we Are daily lost in that obliquity. 'Tis a perplexed circle, in whose round Nothing but sorrows and new sins abound. How is the faint impression of each good Drown'd in the vicious channel of our blood? Whose ebbs and tides by their vicissitude Both our great Maker and ourselves delude. O wherefore is the most discerning eye Unapt to make its own discovery? Why is the clearest and best judging mind In her own ills' prevention dark and blind? Dull to advise, to act precipitate, We scarce think what to do, but when too late. Or if we think, that fluid thought, like seed, Rots there to propagate some fouler deed. Still we repent and sin, sin and repent; We thaw and freeze, we harden and relent. Those fires, which cool'd to-day, the morrow's heat Rekindles. Thus frail nature does repeat What she unlearnt, and still, by learning on, Perfects her lesson of confusion. Sick soul! what cure shall I for thee devise, Whose leprous state corrupts all remedies? What medicine or what cordial can be got For thee, who poison'st thy best antidote? Repentance is thy bane, since thou by it Only reviv'st the fault thou didst commit. Nor griev'st thou for the past, but art in pain, For fear thou mayst not act it o'er again. So that thy tears, like water spilt on lime, Serve not to quench, but to advance the crime. My blessed Saviour! unto thee I fly For help against this homebred tyranny. Thou canst true sorrows in my soul imprint, And draw contrition from a breast of flint. Thou canst reverse this labyrinth of sin, My wild affects and actions wander in. O guide my faith! and, by thy grace's clew, Teach me to hunt that kingdom at the view Where true joys reign, which like their day shall last; Those never clouded, nor that overcast. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRIVILEGE OF BEING by ROBERT HASS SEAWATER STIFFENS CLOTH by JANE HIRSHFIELD SAYING YES TO LIVING by DAVID IGNATOW THE WORLD IS SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE UP by DAVID IGNATOW A CONTEMPLATION UPON FLOWERS by HENRY KING (1592-1669) |
|