Art hangs suspended by a silken thread -- Interpreters of beauty cling the fringe Of life, despised, some honored after dead -- Blasphemous babble is the artist's twinge; Withdraw the wondrous work of sleepless nights, Blot out creations of a cultured mind, Destroy the gossamer creative lights, And see the stalking hulks it leaves behind; Life's parasites are bloated to the brim With art's ambrosia, with the artist stung To bleeding, nourishing a thankless whim, Still, lean and beggarly his all is wrung; The double-dealing savagery of men Is stifling art, and silencing the pen. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LILIES: 27. THE WAVE-TOSSED VESSEL by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) IMPROMPTU by FRANCOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE BERNIS A BALLAD OF THE HEATHER by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE LIBELLER'S SELF-REPROOF by ROBERT BURNS THE BUSH-SPARROW by JOHN BURROUGHS |