THIS virgin soul looked shyly forth, and knew The fiery face of Love, and then withdrew, Just when the spices through its garden blew. With this one glimpse so full a rapture came, It shrank from earthly joy as pain and shame, And passed to God on that first mystic flame. Dissolved, assumed in ardours so intense, It rose to heights untouched by mortal sense, Like some pure cloud of molten frankincense. And that pale lamp of verse, which God had given To guide this soul, while o'er life's ocean driven, Was quenched within the blazing glow of heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ILKA BLADE O' GRASS KEPS ITS AIN DRAP O' DEW by JAMES BALLANTYNE BIRTHDAY OF DANIEL WEBSTER by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD IN ASIA by THOMAS MCGRATH THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE: BOOK 2. CANTO 8. PRELUDE: THE KISS by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE WORLD; SONNET by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |