HOW calmly, and with what a shield of light, The powerful sovereign of the earth and air Is winding up the blue Olympian stair Into the realm of the imperial night! No longer hurling from his dizzy height The twisted bolt that sets the world aglare, Nor fiercely driving the dark clouds that bear The thunder-stone to startle and affright,— But shining as a star adown whose ray Glides what is salutary, what is worth More than aught else upon the natal day Of beings destined to a mortal birth: For Jove is kind, and with benignant sway Rules, loving all the dwellers of the earth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BRIGHTNESS AS A POIGNANT LIGHT by DAVID IGNATOW THREE SILENCES IN THAILAND by KAREN SWENSON SONNET TO GEORGE SAND: 1. A RECOGNITION by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AN ELEGY: TO AN OLD BEAUTY by THOMAS PARNELL PRELUDE by JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE |