AS one that leadeth a blind man In a city, to and fro, Thought, even so, Leadeth me still wherever it will Through scenes of joy and woe. I have seen Lear, his white head crowned With poor straws, playing King; And, wearying Her cheeks' young flowers "with true-love showers," I have heard Ophelia sing. I have been in battles, and I have seen Stones at the martyrs hurled, -- Seen th' flames curled Round foreheads bold, and lips whence rolled The litanies of the world. But of all sad sights that ever I saw, The saddest under the sun, Is a little one, Whose poor pale face was despoiled of grace Ere yet its life begun. No glimpse of the good green Nature To gladden with sweet surprise The staring eyes, That only have seen, close walls between, A hand-breadth of the skies. Ah, never a bird is heard to sing At the windows under ground, The long year round; There, never the morn on her pipes of corn Maketh a cheerful sound. Oh, little white cloud of witnesses Against your parentage, May Heaven assuage The woes that wait on your dark estate, -- Unorphaned orphanage. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THEY ACCUSE ME OF NOT TALKING by HAYDEN CARRUTH IN QUEST by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ONLY OF THEE AND ME by LOUIS UNTERMEYER A FIESOLAN IDYL by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR THE HIGHER GOOD by THEODORE PARKER |