THROUGHOUT the world in vain, in vain they sought Some solid good to fill the restless mind; The long desired, but still unfound, to find, The heart's last refuge and the goal of thought; What, in its depths, the burning soul has wrought Of visions moulded with consuming fire, And all that sprang spontaneous to the lyre, In harmonies of golden words, they caught; Upon the mountain-top, where silence broods, They questioned of the stars; and by the shore Asked of its waves, and pondered all the lore Of peopled plain, or taught in solemn woods; Without,—within,—alas, how vain the quest! Nor mind, nor nature breathed Heaven's holiest whisper, REST. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WRECK OF THE DEUTSCHLAND by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS TO MRS. MARTHA BLOUNT (ON HER BIRTHDAY, 1723) by ALEXANDER POPE WHAT MAKES A NATION GREAT? by ALEXANDER BLACKBURN THE TARBOLTON LASSES by ROBERT BURNS |