Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THOMAS HARDY, by JOHN COWPER POWYS Poet's Biography First Line: Master of human smiles and human moan Last Line: To live for love, and for love's sake to die. Subject(s): Death; Fate; Life; Love; Praise; Smiles; Dead, The; Destiny | ||||||||
Master of human smiles and human moan, Of strange soul-searchings, raptures, agonies, Passions that ask for bread and find a stone, Hopes hungered into madness like the seas, And Pity dumb with pleading like the wind: Prophet art thou of that mysterious tongue Wherewith our ancient Mother, deaf and blind, Her griefs immortal and her joys hath sung In the unheeding ears of human-kind. O Master, thine a special meed of praise From me whose heart is all thy sweet West's own, Hushed with the dew that dreams on orchard sprays With clover scents about the woodlands blown. Full oft in those enchanted solitudes, When fairy fingers ring the flowery bells, And make a thousand mystic interludes To the slow weaving of Hymettian spells, Cool-couched on mossy bank I've floated down The fair, swift currents of unnumbered dreams, Plucked Amaranth blossoms by Elysian streams And kissed the starry skirts of Dian's gown. And there, in commune with thy mighty heart, I saw how life's light wreath of summer roses Remorseless Fate's inveterate frown discloses, And sullen Death's intolerable dart: Saw man's last hope beneath a soulless sky To live for Love, and for Love's sake to die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ATTEMPTING TO ANSWER DAVID IGNATOW'S QUESTION by ROBERT BLY FROST AND HIS ENEMIES by ROBERT BLY THE WORLDS IN THIS WORLD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR UNABLE TO FIND by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR TO HELEN KELLER - HUMANITARIAN, SOCIAL DEMOCRAT, GREAT SOUL by EDWIN MARKHAM DOMESDAY BOOK: FINDING OF THE BODY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS WE COME BACK by KENNETH REXROTH THE WAKING (2) by THEODORE ROETHKE |
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