BEFORE the day the gleaming dawn doth flee: -- All yesternight I had a dreary dream; Methought I walk'd in desert Academe Among fallen pillars -- and there came to me, All in a dim half-twilight silently, A very sad old man -- his eyes were red With over-weeping -- and he cried and said "The light hath risen but shineth not on me." Beautiful Athens, all thy loveliness Is like the scarce remember'd burst of spring When now the summer in her party dress Hath clothed the woods, and fill'd each living thing With ripest joy -- because upon our time Hath risen the noon, and thou wert in thy prime. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IF DEATH IS KIND by SARA TEASDALE TO A REPUBLICAN FRIEND, 1848 by MATTHEW ARNOLD TO THE FAIR CLARINDA, WHO MADE LOVE TO ME by APHRA BEHN A DEATH IN THE DESERT by ROBERT BROWNING LIMBO by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT [1583] by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW |