HAST thou not seen an aged rifted tower, Meet habitation for the Ghost of Time, Where fearful ravage makes decay sublime, And destitution wears the face of power? Yet is the fabric deck'd with many a flower Of fragrance wild, and many-dappled hue, Gold streak'd with iron-brown, and nodding blue Making each ruinous chink a fairy bower. E'en such a chink methinks I fain would be, Should Heaven appoint me to a lengthen'd age So old in look, that Young and Old may see The record of my closing pilgrimage: Yet, to the last, a rugged wrinkled thing To which young sweetness may delight to cling | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MADMAN OF THE SOUTH SIDE by CLARENCE MAJOR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMI GREEN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS CHILDE ROLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME' by ROBERT BROWNING VICTOR GALBRAITH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE RAINY SUMMER by ALICE MEYNELL THE MAIMED DEBAUCHEE by JOHN WILMOT JERUSALEM; THE EMANATION OF THE GIANT ALBION: CHAPTER 1 by WILLIAM BLAKE |