Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ARTIST'S APOSTROPHE, by MARCUS S. C. RICKARDS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ARTIST'S APOSTROPHE, by                    
First Line: Too often they linger apart
Last Line: Shall faint, fade, and perish.
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Beauty; Fate; Life; Truth; Destiny


TOO often they linger apart,
Gloomy Toil and bright Beauty;
But lo! forged in fire of my heart
See the clasp of hard Duty;
Pure gold, like the midsummer sun,
Full rounded, fine fashioned,
The circlet that links two in one
By a life-vow impassioned.

Dull Toil! Nature marks thee as groom,
For thy force, thews, and muscle;
They fit thee to win ample room
'Mid life's pressure and bustle:
Tho' Sin was thy sire, in the sweat
Of thy brow lurks a blessing;
Thy dews health and glory beget,
Tho' born of transgressing.

Fair Beauty! as bride must thou shine;
Eternity's splendour
Has robed thee in vesture divine,
Of hues soft and tender;
Appear, radiant daughter of Truth!
From thy Mansion above him;
Upraise him from Time's gloom and ruth,
Serve, honour, and love him!

He, taken for better or worse,
With strength shall endow her;
While she lifts the lingering curse
That o'er him may lower.
Sweet pair! Heaven formed you to mate;
To-day shall ye marry;
This ring the true token that Fate
Constrains you to tarry,

To tarry, for aye in my heart
With Bliss for your neighbour;
If Toil support Beauty in Art
And Beauty crown Labour,
Then, born of the twain, a bright throng
Of Graces shall cherish
All Right in my work, and its Wrong
Shall faint, fade, and perish.





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