"O, thou." --CLAUD HALCRO. BLESS thy bright face! though often blessed before By raving maniac and by pensive fool; One would say something more-- but who as yet, When looking at thee in the deep blue sky, Could tell the poorest thought that struck his heart? Yet all have tried, and all have tried in vain. At thee, poor planet, is the first attempt That the young rhymster ventures. And the sigh The boyish lover heaves, is at the Moon. Bards, who -- ere Milton sung or Shakespeare played The dirge of sorrow, or the song of love, Bards, who had higher soared than Fesole, Knew better of the Moon. 'T was there they found Vain thoughts, lost hopes, and fancy's happy dreams, And all sweet sounds, such as have fled afar From waking discords, and from daylight jars. There Ariosto puts the widow's weeds When she, new wedded, smiles abroad again, And there the sad maid's innocence -- 't is there That broken vows and empty promises, All good intentions, with no answering deed To anchor them on the substantial earth, Are shrewdly packed. -- And could he think that thou, So bright, so pure of aspect, so serene, Art the mere storehouse of our faults and crimes? I'd rather think as puling rhymsters think, O; love-sick maidens fancy -- Yea, prefer The dairy notion that thou art but cheese, Green cheese --than thus misdoubt thy honest face. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...POOR POLL by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES WHISPERS OF IMMORTALITY by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT FREEDOM by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE WEST WIND by JOHN MASEFIELD AVIENUS: TO HIS FRIENDS by RUFUS FESTUS AVIENUS OSTRA by ELLEN FRANCES BALDWIN SONNET OF LIFE by ERNEST BENSHIMOL ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY; BEING THE LAST ADVENTURE OF BALAUSTION: PART 3 by ROBERT BROWNING |