STAY, coward blood, and do not yield To thy pale sister beauty's field, Who, there displaying round her white Ensigns, hath usurp'd thy right, Invading thy peculiar throne, The lip, where thou shouldst rule alone; And on the cheek, where Nature's care Allotted each an equal share, Her spreading lily only grows, Whose milky deluge drowns thy rose. Quit not the field, faint blood, nor rush In the short sally of a blush Upon thy sister foe, but strive To keep an endless war alive: Though peace do petty states maintain, Here war alone makes beauty reign. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...APPELLATE JURISDICTION by MARIANNE MOORE THE SUPPLIANT by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE PALINODE; AUTUMN by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL STORY OF THE GATE by HARRISON ROBERTSON THE TRAMPS by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE |