AY, gentle stranger, here lies Romeo. Thou art no Veronese . . . from Florence? What, Speak they of Romeo so far away? Tell me, my son, what do they say of him? "The king of lovers -- and a noble heart "Unwilling to brook life when love was gone --" Are they not young who say it -- mates of thine? So many words that blossom fulsome sweet Ripen to bitter fruit as men grow old -- I would not have you think of Romeo thus. His death was noble? Nay -- it was but young. No friend of his? I was his nearest friend, Even more privy to his inmost mind Than was Mercutio's self, I dare to say, And therefore I would have thee think of him Thoughts that shall change only toward tenderness As the blood cools and slackens in its race And less of life lies in a woman's hand. Judge not my Romeo as a man is judged. . . . Hadst thou but seen him when he came to me! (He knew that I would shelter him, poor child, Though he had laid a score of Tybalts cold) We heard Verona roaring through the streets Louder than floods in spring. The memory After so long, is pitiful to tears -- His heart was fluttering like the candle-flame Before the altar, on a windy day. Romeo a man? No, no -- he was a child, A slender, scarcely-budded slip of spring, The calyx-bursting promise of a rose Flung to the foamy rage of Adige And beaten down the rapids to its doom -- A blade untempered, broken ere its time In the great battle -- oh, a child, a child Caught in the millstones that grind up men's hearts To be the bread of centuries unborn. Dreaming, he was enamoured of a dream, And from the drowsy wonder of his eyes Rubbed life like sleep away; so burst on him The blinding day of immortality. . . . On him, who was not yet awake to earth! How like a child astray he must have stared Upon the pitying angels! Juliet? Ay, call her woman if thou wilt, for she Can bear thy judgment; but for Romeo -- Pray thou for him to-night as for a child. My name? 'Tis Laurence. Peace to thee, my son. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RESCUE by JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI: 5. THE STEVEDORES by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER THE HOLY SCRIPTURES (1) by GEORGE HERBERT THE DESCRIPTION OF COOKHAM by AEMILIA (BASSANO) LANYER LOUISA MAY ALCOTT by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON |