EVEN as one in city pent, Dazed with the stir and din of town, Drums on the pane in discontent, And sees the dreary rain come down, Yet, through the dimmed and dripping glass, Beholds, in fancy, visions pass Of Spring that breaks with all her leaves, Of birds that build in thatch and eaves, Of woodlands where the throstle calls, Of girls that gather cowslip balls, Of kine that low, and lambs that cry, Of wains that jolt and rumble by, Of brooks that sing by brambly ways, Of sunburned folk that stand at gaze, Of all the dreams with which men cheat The stony sermons of the street, So, in its hour, the artist brain Weary of human ills and woes, Weary of passion and of pain, And vaguely craving for repose, Deserts awhile the stage of strife To draw the even, ordered life, The easeful days, the dreamless nights, The homely round of plain delights, The calm, the unambitioned mind, Which all men seek, and few men find. EPILOGUE. LET the dream pass, the fancy fade! We clutch a shape, and hold a shade. Is Peace so peaceful? -- Nay, -- who knows? There are volcanoes under snows. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT THE THRUSH SAID by JOHN KEATS HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 26 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH SONG OF THE BOOKWORM by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN OBSERVATIONS IN THE ART OF ENGLISH POESY: 24. ELEGIAC VERSE: THE SEVENTH EPIGRAM by THOMAS CAMPION THE LORD'S MASQUE: ORPHEUS by THOMAS CAMPION UPON A MOLE IN CELIA'S BOSOM by THOMAS CAREW |