Happy those early days! when I Shined in my angel-infancy. Before I understood this place Appointed for my second race, Or taught my soul to fancy aught But a white, celestial thought, When yet I had not walked above A mile or two, from my first love, And looking back (at that short space) Could see a glimpse of his bright face; When on some gilded cloud, or flower My gazing soul would dwell an hour, And in those weaker glories spy Some shadows of eternity; Before I taught my tongue to wound My conscience with a sinful sound, Or had the black art to dispense A several sin to every sense, But felt through all this fleshly dress Bright shoots of everlastingness. O how I long to travel back And tread again that ancient track! That I might once more reach that plain, Where first I left my glorious train, From whence th' enlightened spirit sees That shady city of palm trees; But (ah!) my soul with too much stay Is drunk, and staggers in the way. Some men a forward motion love, But I by backward steps would move, And when this dust falls to the urn In that state I came return. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD by THOMAS GRAY MILTON; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW PRAYER by ANTON ALEXANDER VON AUERSPERG TRAILING ARBUTUS by JOHN BURROUGHS THE TRAGEDIE OF MARIAM, FAIRE QUEENE OF JEWRY: CHORAL SONG by ELIZABETH (TANFIELD) CARY |