As Hermes once took to his feathers light, When lulled Argus, baffled, swoon'd and slept, So on a Delphic reed, my idle spright So play'd, so charm'd, so conquer'd, so bereft The dragon-world of all its hundred eyes; And, seeing it asleep, so fled away-- Not to pure Ida with its snow-cold skies, Nor unto Tempe where Jove griev'd a day; But to that second circle of sad hell, Where 'mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw, Pale were the lips I kiss'd, and fair the form I floated with, about that melancholy storm. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FAIRIES by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM PHILOMELA by JOHN CROWE RANSOM THE PRAYER PERFECT by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY I SHALL LIVE TO BE OLD by SARA TEASDALE TWO SONNETS: 2 by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) DIS ALITER VISUM; OR, LE BYRON DE NOS JOURS by ROBERT BROWNING THE VANISHED VOICE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |