CREATURE of air and light, Emblem of that which may not fade or die, Wilt thou not speed thy flight, To chase the south wind through the glowing sky? What lures thee thus to stay, With Silence and Decay, Fixed on the wreck of cold Mortality? The thoughts once chambered there Have gathered up their treasures and are Will the dust tell us where They that have burst the prison-house are gone -- Rise, nursling of the day, If thou wouldst trace their way -- flown? Earth hath no voice to make the secret known. Who seeks the vanished bird By the forsaken nest and broken shell? -- Far thence he sings unheard, Yet free and joyous in the woods to dwell, Thou of the sunshine born, Take the bright wings of morn! Thy hope calls heavenward from yon ruined cell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO -, WITH A ROSE by SIDNEY LANIER THE GARDEN BY MOONLIGHT by AMY LOWELL FONTENOY by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS THE ODYSSEY: THE GARDENS OF ALCINOUS by HOMER ODES I, 5 by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS SONNET: 110 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE |