NATURE nothing shows more rare Than shells, not even flowers; no, Unfading petals tinted glow Where ocean's obscure weight is air; Where winds are currents, streams or tides, Life to perfect their beauty hides. Each hinged valve curves out and rims Pink, yellow, purple, green or blue, A colour-whisper's graded hue; While dinted lobe, spine or rib limns Crisp helmet, cusped shard to wing. Full panoply for fairy king. In easy air and warm light nursed Bloom wit and love with glamour fraught, And brave but flower-like youth: Like brittle shells, long years immersed, Secreted by toil, conscience, thought, Are formed art, virtue, truth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOUR QUARTETS: BURNT NORTON by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT IMPROMPTU, IN REPLY TO A FRIEND by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 27 by THOMAS CAMPION A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 38 by THOMAS CAMPION UPON THE KING'S SICKNESS by THOMAS CAREW TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: AFTER LONG AGES by EDWARD CARPENTER TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. OF ALL THE SUFFERING by EDWARD CARPENTER THE CANTERBURY TALES: THE MAN OF LAW'S TALE - THE EPILOGUE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER |