All things are doubly fair If patience fashion them And care -- Verse, enamel, marble, gem. No idle chains endure: Yet, Muse, to walk aright, Lace tight Thy buskin proud and sure. Fie on a facile measure, A shoe where every lout At pleasure Slips his foot in and out! Sculptor, lay by the clay On which thy nerveless finger May linger, Thy thoughts flown far away. Keep to Carrara rare, Struggle with Paros cold, That hold The subtle line and fair. Lest haply nature lose That proud, that perfect line, Make thine The bronze of Syracuse. And with a tender dread Upon an agate's face Retrace Apollo's golden head. Despise a watery hue And tints that soon expire. With fire Burn thine enamel true. Twine, twine in artful wise The blue-green mermaid's arms, Mid charms Of thousand heraldries. Show in their triple lobe Virgin and Child, that hold Their globe, Cross-crowned and aureoled. —All things return to dust Save beauties fashioned well. The bust Outlasts the citadel. Oft doth the plowman's heel, Breaking an ancient clod, Reveal A Caesar or a god. The gods, too, die, alas! But deathless and more strong Than brass Remains the sovereign song. Chisel and carve and file, Till thy vague dream imprint Its smile On the unyielding flint. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHILD OF THE ROMANS by CARL SANDBURG ARCADIA: THE BARGAIN by PHILIP SIDNEY ON A GIFT OF FLOWERS by GUILLAUME VICTOR EMILE AUGIER APOLLO AND DAPHNE by PHILIP AYRES THE RHYME OF SIR LAUNCELOT BOGLE; A LEGEND OF GLASGOW by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 21. THE WORLD'S MARRIAGE MORN by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |