WHAT were the whole void world, if thou wert dead, Whose briefest absence can eclipse my day, And make the hours that danced with Time away Drag their funereal steps with muffled head? Through thee, meseems, the very rose is red, From thee the violet steals its breath in May, From thee draw life all things that grow not gray, And by thy force the happy stars are sped. Thou near, the hope of thee to overflow Fills all my earth and heaven, as when in Spring, Ere April come, the birds and blossoms know, And grasses brighten round her feet to cling; Nay, and this hope delights all nature so That the dumb turf I tread on seems to sing. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CORNELIAN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON YOUR HANDS by ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE A WEATHER PROPHET by JANE BARLOW SHUT OUT by KATHARINE LEE BATES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM AT CLIFTON by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES MOON RIDER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET IMPROMPTU by FRANCOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE BERNIS |