I SAW the sunlit vale, and the pastoral fairy-tale; The sweet and bitter scent of the may drifted by; And never have I seen such a bright bewildering green, But it looked like a lie, Like a kindly meant lie. When gods are in dispute, one a Sidney, one a brute, It would seem that human sense might not know, might not spy; But though nature smile and feign where foul play has stabbed and slain, There's a witness, an eye, Nor will charms blind that eye. Nymph of the upland song and the sparkling leafage young, For your merciful desire with these charms to beguile, For ever be adored; muses yield you rich reward; But you fail, though you smile -- That other does not smile. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HILL WIFE: LONELINESS by ROBERT FROST ABYSS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES TWILIGHT AT SEA by AMELIA B. WELBY ONE'S-SELF I SING by WALT WHITMAN |