I PROMIS'D thee, that, soon or late, Your burial-ground should be, Wouldst thou with gentle-patience wait, A theme of verse to me. So long, alas! did I delay The tribute thus decreed it, That thou, half angrily, didst say, When wrote, thou would'st not read it! But I defy the idle threat, In peevish mood held out, For reasons two-fold, which, as yet, I see no cause to doubt. The first is curiosity! Your sex's master-spell. Nay! look not so reproachfully, I feel its force as well. Nor am I much asham'd to own This fault, if fault it be; Much worse, I guess, might soon be shown, Or 'twere not shar'd with thee. But let that pass: one reason yet Remains for thee to hear, Why I should hold thy playful threat As one I need not fear. It is because the spot, thus made The scene of thoughts of mine, Is one that often is portray'd By Fancy unto thine. When absent from it, does it not Arise to Memory's view, Like an endear'd and hallow'd spot, Where thought and feeling grew— From strength to strength? Oh, thus it should! For, howsoe'er we roam, Hearts happy, guileless, pure, and good, Must turn to childhood's home. Then be the song which owes its birth To thee, by thee approv'd; If not for its intrinsic worth, Yet for its theme belov'd. And should it seem to thee to wear Of graver thoughts the hue, With such I know that thou wilt bear, If feeling own them true. The brightest, gayest thoughts of mirth, If thought to mirth be given, Can only lend a charm to @3earth;@1 But graver—lead to @3heaven!@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARIZONA POEMS: 2. MEXICAN QUARTER by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER GO DOWN DEATH; A FUNERAL SERMON by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE GLASSES AND THE BIBLE by ST. CLAIR ADAMS LOVE SONG by THEODORE FAULLAIN DE BANVILLE |