LIKE to a dismal brute, dust-smothered, teased, That tugs its chain and bays the blistering sky, Trail thy torn heart who will in the foul sty That so the lewd, flesh-ravening mob be pleased; Let Love's own veil of glorious light be seized And torn from shuddering limbs divinely shy, That so the fire rekindle its dull eye, Its mirth and boorish pity be appeased! Though proud and silent graveward I go hence, I'd rather plunge to endless darkness down Than sell my heart-throbs for the rabble's roar; I would not give my body like a clown To tumble on its paltry board for pence, Nor leer for lovers like a shameless whore. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RECOLLECTIONS OF LOVE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ODE ON THE SPRING by THOMAS GRAY PAST AND PRESENT by THOMAS HOOD CITY TREES by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY OUR SOLDIERS' SANTIAGO SONG by DAVID GRAHAM ADEE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 82. AL-RAWUF by EDWIN ARNOLD OUT OF THE SHADOW by MARGARET FAIRLESS BARBER THE HOUSE-WARMING; A LEGEND OF BLEEDING-HEART YARD by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |