Who sings upon the pinnacle of night? Down, down, unearthly bird, you sing too soon! O bird, be still! O bird, the earth is stricken To hear you at the bosom of the moon. Consent to silence and a simple dark; Permit the heart to lie within the breast Unveiled before a thousand memories, And in parade salute the loveliest. Permit the heart, unaltered by your singing, To have within the dark its pensive way. Release the heart amid its joys and sorrows Untroubled by what angels have to say. Unhindered comes the dawn, and you may sing Victorious and vocal to the light. But now delay, and let the heart reverse Time's sinister profile on the wall of night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SEA GODS: 3 by HILDA DOOLITTLE A THOUGHT IN TWO MOODS by THOMAS HARDY THE TWELVE-FORTY-FIVE (FOR EDWARD J. WHEELER) by ALFRED JOYCE KILMER A FAREWELL [TO C.E.G.] by CHARLES KINGSLEY TWILIGHT AT SEA by AMELIA B. WELBY TO THE LARK by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD TO HIS FRIEND IN ELYSIUM by JOACHIM DU BELLAY |