As a beam o'er the face of the waters may glow, While the tide runs in darkness and coldness below, So the cheek may be tinged with a warm sunny smile, Though the cold heart to ruin runs darkly the while. One fatal remembrance, one sorrow that throws Its bleak shade alike o'er our joys and our woes, To which life nothing darker or brighter can bring, For which joy has no balm and affliction no sting: Oh! this thought in the midst of enjoyment will stay, Like a dead leafless branch in the summer's bright ray, The beams of the warm sun play round it in vain, It may smile in his light, but it blooms not again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THURSDAY by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS TO CHLOE WHO FOR HIS SAKE WISHED HERSELF YOUNGER by WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT FRANCE: AN ODE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AN INSCRIPTION by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT CLOD OF THE EARTH by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 31 by THOMAS CAMPION THE PICTURE, OR THE LOVER'S RESOLUTION by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE LAST CUP OF CANARY; SIR HARRY LOVELOCK, 1645 by HELEN GRAY CONE |