Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ART by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON

First Line: ART HAS HER ALTARS AND HER AVATARS
Last Line: A POE SLEEPS, FOLDED IN THAT PERFECT DREAM.
Subject(s): ART & ARTISTS; BEAUTY; DREAMS; EARTH; POETRY & POETS; SAPPHO (610-580 B.C.); SOUL; NIGHTMARES; WORLD;

ART has her altars and her avatars,
Makers of Beauty worship at her shrine;
Earth may not daunt a soul that scans the stars
And wets the lips with more than mortal wine.

Imagination's frankincense and myrrh
Bedew the dust and sweeten common day;
The poet walks in meadows lovelier
Than ours, and visions light his wandering way.

Once having known the ecstasy of these,
Once having glimpsed that high supernal gleam,
A Sappho sings across the centuries,
A Poe sleeps, folded in that perfect dream.



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