COME not with empty words that say, "Your strength of manhood wastes away In long, ignoble, fruitless years!" I live apart from pain and tears, Wherewith the ways of men are sown, Nor dwell I loveless and alone; One tender spirit shares my days, One voice is swift to yield me praise, One true heart beats against my own! What more, what more could man desire Than love that burns a steadfast fire And faith that ever leads him higher Along the path which points to peace? Oh, far and faint I hear the din Of battle-blows, and mortal sin From out the stir and press of life; Those hollow muffled sounds of strife Seem rolled from thunder-clouds upcurled About a dim and distant world; Below me, in the sunless gloom; But round my brow the amaranths bloom Of sober joy with heart's-ease furled; For more, what more can man desire Than love that burns a steadfast fire, And faith that ever leads him higher, Where all the jars of earth shall cease? A present glory haunts my way, A promise of diviner day Illumes the flushed horizon's verge; And fainter, farther still, the surge Of buffeting waves that beat and roar Up the dim world's tempestuous shore Beneath me in the moonless airs; Alas, its passions, sorrows, cares! Alas, its fathomless despairs! Yet dreams, vague dreams, they seem to me, On these clear heights of liberty, These summits of serene desire, -- Whence love ascends, a quenchless fire, And sweet faith ever leads me higher To pearly paths of perfect peace! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WIND AT THE DOOR by WILLIAM BARNES ON A CARRIER WHO DIED OF DRUNKENNESS by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE ROMAN ROAD by THOMAS HARDY THREE FRIENDS OF MINE: 5; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE SCRUTINY; SONG by RICHARD LOVELACE THE COLLEGE COLONEL by HERMAN MELVILLE |