They say, that Pity in Love's service dwells, A porter at the rosy temple's gate. I missed him going: but it is my fate To come upon him now beside his wells; Whereby I know that I Love's temple leave, And that the purple doors have closed behind. Poor soul! if, in those early days unkind, Thy power to sting had been but power to grieve, We now might with an equal spirit meet, And not be matched like innocence and vice. She for the Temple's worship has paid price, And takes the coin of Pity as a cheat. She sees through simulation to the bone: What's best in her impels her to the worst: Never, she cries, shall Pity soothe Love's thirst, Or foul hypocrisy for truth atone! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ASKING FOR ROSES by ROBERT FROST TO R. B. by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS GLOTTO'S TOWER by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN OF CHARTRES by HENRY BROOKS ADAMS EN TOUR; A SONG SEQUENCE: 2. TREASURE by ALBERTA BANCROFT THE HUNTER'S MOON by MATHILDE BLIND |