SWEET STAY-AT-HOME, sweet Well-Content, Thou knowest of no strange continent: Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep A gentle motion with the deep; Thou hast not sailed in Indian seas, Where scent comes forth in every breeze. Thou hast not seen a summer's night When maids could sew by a worm's light; Nor the North Sea in spring send out Bright hues that like birds flit about In solid cages of white ice -- Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Love-one-Place. Thou hast not seen black fingers pick White cotton when the bloom is thick, Nor heard black throats in harmony; Nor hast thou sat on stones that lie Flat on the earth, that once did rise To hide proud kings from common eyes. Thou hast not seen plains full of bloom Where green things had such little room They pleased the eye like fairer flowers -- Sweet Stay-at-Home, all these long hours. Sweet Well-Content, sweet Love-one-Place, Sweet, simple maid, bless thy dear face; For thou hast made more homely stuff Nurture thy gentle self enough; I love thee for a heart that's kind -- Not for the knowledge in thy mind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION (B) by WILLIAM BLAKE PRE-EXISTENCE by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE A CHRISTMAS CAROL, SUNG TO THE KING IN THE PRESENCE AT WHITEHALL by ROBERT HERRICK EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: THE BEGINNER by RUDYARD KIPLING A CHILD'S SONG OF CHRISTMAS by MARJORIE LOWRY CHRISTIE PICKTHALL AN HYMN IN HONOUR OF BEAUTY by EDMUND SPENSER |