SHELL, whose lips, than mine more cold, Might with Dian's ear make bold, Seek my Lady's; if thou win To that portal, shut from sin, Where commissioned angels' swords Startle back unholy words, Thou a miracle shalt see Wrought by it and wrought in thee; Thou, the dumb one, shalt recover Speech of poet, speech of lover. If she deign to lift you there, Murmur what I may not dare; In that archway, pearly-pink As the Dawn's untrodden brink, Murmur, "Excellent and good, Beauty's best in every mood, Never common, never tame, Changeful fair as windwaved flame" — Nay, I maunder; this she hears Every day with mocking ears, With a brow not sudden-stained With the flush of bliss restrained, With no tremor of the pulse More than feels the dreaming dulse In the midmost ocean's caves, When a tempest heaps the waves. Thou must woo her in a phrase Mystic as the opal's blaze, Which pure maids alone can see When their lovers constant be. I with thee a secret share, Half a hope, and half a prayer, Though no reach of mortal skill Ever told it all, or will; Say, "He bids me — nothing more — Tell you what you guessed before!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ROAD TO AVIGNON by AMY LOWELL THE LILY, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE BROTHER JONATHAN'S LAMENT FOR SISTER CAROLINE [DECEMBER 2O, 1860] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES UNMANIFEST DESTINY by RICHARD HOVEY CORONATION by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON THE DEFINITION OF LOVE by ANDREW MARVELL |