Hear, my beloved, an old Milesian story! -- High, and embosom'd in congregated laurels, Glimmer'd a temple upon a breezy headland; In the dim distance amid the skiey billows Rose a fair island; the god of flocks had blest it. From the far shores of the bleat-resounding island Oft by the moonlight a little boat came floating, Came to the sea-cave beneath the breezy headland, Where amid myrtles a pathway stole in mazes Up to the groves of the high embosom'd temple. There in a thicket of dedicated roses, Oft did a priestess, as lovely as a vision, Pouring her soul to the son of Cytherea, Pray him to hover around the slight canoe-boat, And with invisible pilotage to guide it Over the dusk wave, until the nightly sailor Shivering with ecstasy sank upon her bosom. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IF by EDWARD JAMES MORTIMER COLLINS IN THE GARDEN AT SWAINSTON (IN MEMORIAM - SIR JOHN SIMEON) by ALFRED TENNYSON WRITTEN IN BUTLER'S SERMONS by MATTHEW ARNOLD DENNER'S OLD WOMAN by VINCENT BOURNE WHILE LOVELINESS GOES BY by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH VALEDICTORY; THE SCHOLAR TO THE ASHES OF HIS LIBRARY by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB |