O HEART of fire! misjudged by wilful man, Thou flower of Jesse's race! What woe was thine, when thou and Jonathan Last greeted face to face! He doom'd to die, thou on us to impress The portent of a blood-stain'd holiness. Yet it was well: -- for so, 'mid cares of rule And crime's encircling tide, A spell was o'er thee, zealous one, to cool Earth-joy and kingly pride; With battle-scene and pageant, prompt to blend The pale calm spectre of a blameless friend. Ah! had he lived, before thy throne to stand, Thy spirit keen and high Sure it had snapp'd in twain love's slender band, So dear in memory; Paul, of his comrade reft, the warning gives, -- He lives to us who dies, he is but lost who lives. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INFANT SORROW, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE THE VISIONARY by EMILY JANE BRONTE DREAM SONG: 2 by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE YARN OF THE 'NANCY BELL' by WILLIAM SCHWENCK GILBERT LONG ISLAND SOUND by EMMA LAZARUS SONNET: 54 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE SONNET: TO J.M.K. by ALFRED TENNYSON A DEFIANCE, RETURNING TO THE PLACE OF HIS PAST AMOURS by PHILIP AYRES |