HIS sleeping or his waking mind A master might control, But with what ordinance would he bind The wilful-wandering soul? When all is lamp-lit peace and bloom, Its pale dismay appears Walking the wars and flaring gloom Of charred and riddled years. Amid the mind's mechanic tense Of every day's account, The soul allays the pilgrim sense At some Arcadian fount. In hate's salt sea its Naiad wave Upbubbles; in the din Of comic wildfire it stares grave; It mocks our discipline, This corposant, this light indeed That with its sudden smiles Makes laughing child or leafing weed Clear at ten thousand miles! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SELF-INTERROGATION by EMILY JANE BRONTE WRITTEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DELIRIUM by WILLIAM COWPER IN A GARDEN by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE IN LIGHTER VEIN by ELIZABETH KEMPER ADAMS A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR by LAURA F. ARMITAGE SONNET: 17 by RICHARD BARNFIELD |