I BROKE one day a slender stem, Thick-set with little golden horns, Half bud, half blossom, and a gem -- Such as one finds in autumn morns When all the grass with dew is strung -- On every fairy bugle hung. Careless, I dropped it, in a place Where no light shone, and so forgot Its delicate, dewy, flowering grace, Till presently from the dark spot A charming sense of sweetness came, That woke an answering sense of shame. Quickly I thought, O heart of mine, A lesson for thee plain to read: Thou needest not that light should shine, Or fellow-men thy virtues heed: Enough -- if haply this be so -- That thou hast sweetness to bestow! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRANES OF IBYCUS by EMMA LAZARUS THE CENSUS-TAKER by ROBERT FROST SONGS WITH PRELUDES: REGRET by JEAN INGELOW ODES I, 9. TO WINTER by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS THE WIND SUFFERS by LAURA RIDING VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1877 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE INDIAN SERENADE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |