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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE TRUE PARADISE by JAMES ELROY FLECKER

First Line: LORD, IS THE POET TO DESTRUCTION VOWED
Last Line: THROUGH BOTH THE PALE-BLUE WINDOWS OF QUICK MIND;

Lord, is the Poet to destruction vowed,
Like the dawn-feather of an April cloud,
Which signs in russet character or grey
The name of Beauty on the book of Day?
We poets crave no heav'n but what is ours --
These trees beside these rivers; these same flowers
Shaped and enfragranced to the English field
Where Thy best florist-craft is full revealed.
Trees by the river, birds upon the bough
My soul shall ask for, whose flesh enjoys them now
Through both the pale-blue windows of quick Mind;



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