HOW well he spoke who coined the phrase @3The picture palace!@1 Aye, in sooth A palace, where men's weary days Are crowned with kingliness of youth. Strange palace! Crowded, airless, dim, Where toes are trod and strained eyes smart, We watch a wand of brightness limn The old heroics of the heart. Romance again hath us in thrall And Love is sweet and always true, And in the darkness of the hall Hands clasp -- as they were meant to do. Remote from peevish joys and ills Our souls, @3pro tem,@1 are purged and free: We see the sun on western hills, The crumbling tumult of the sea. We are the blond that maidens crave, Well balanced at a dozen banks; By sleight of hand we haste to save A brown-eyed life, nor stay for thanks! Alas, perhaps our instinct feels Life is not all it might have been, So we applaud fantastic reels Of shadow, cast upon a screen! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AUF WIEDERSEHEN! SUMMER by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 119 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI TO MICHAL: SONNETS AFTER MARRIAGE: 8. AFTER RONSARD by CHARLES WILLIAMS THE CLOAK, THE BOAT, AND THE SHOES by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS TO THE SHAH (2) by AWHAD AD-DIN 'ALI IBN VAHID MUHAMMAD KHAVARANI A NEW HAMPSHIRE BOY by MORRIS GILBERT BISHOP IT'S HARD TO SAY by BERTON BRALEY |