I did not know if stalwart courage you possessed. You gaily danced o'er paths with sun-lit petals strewn. Love's fingers, -- magic -- soft -- your trusting heart caressed, And this world bloomed for you, -- a garden bright in June. Fair fame adorned your brow; -- wealth added golden pleasure; Kind Fates brought precious gifts to you, in generous mood. You laughed in tune to sheer frivolity's light measure, -- Nor dreamed that storm clouds gather, -- swift and sombre-hued. Fame died. Wealth fled. Misfortune's grief-edged saber pressed. Your weary feet trod, bleeding, down disillusion's road. And faithless love tore out the heart from your poor breast, -- To leave a wilderness, where once Romance abode. Your heart rebounds above disaster's dead debris; No cry of cowardly defeat rose from your throat. With eyes and spirit high, -- life's master e'er to be, -- Your soul, in victory, sounds Faith's triumphant note. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 5 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE SONG OF THE DIAL by PETER AIREY VENDEMIAIRE by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE SHELLEY'S DEATH by ALFRED AUSTIN IF YOU PLAY A GAME OF CHANCE by WILLIAM BLAKE NORTH WIND IN OCTOBER by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES ELEGY ON NEWSTEAD ABBEY by GEORGE GORDON BYRON TO MRS. GOODCHILD by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 4. THE COAST OF LIGURIA by EDWARD CARPENTER |