Carol, every violet has Heaven for a looking-glass! Every little valley lies Under many-clouded skies; Every little cottage stands Girt about with boundless lands. Every little glimmering pond Claims the mighty shores beyond -- Shores no seamen ever hailed, Seas no ship has ever sailed. All the shores when day is done Fade into the setting sun, So the story tries to teach More than can be told in speech. Beauty is a fading flower, Truth is but a wizard's tower, Where a solemn death-bell tolls, And a forest round it rolls. We have come by curious ways To the light that holds the days; We have sought in haunts of fear For that all-enfolding sphere: And lo! it was not far, but near. We have found, O foolish-fond, The shore that has no shore beyond. Deep in every heart it lies With its untranscended skies; For what heaven should bend above Hearts that own the heaven of love? Carol, Carol, we have come Back to heaven, back to home. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO SIR GODFREY KNELLER by JOHN DRYDEN AN ANCIENT PROPHECY by PHILIP FRENEAU A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 18 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN SONNET DEDICATORY by AUGUSTE ANGELLIER THE LEADY'S TOWER by WILLIAM BARNES THE SECOND BROTHER; AN UNFINISHED DRAMA by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 44 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH ON W.S. by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB LINES ON RECEIVING A SEAL WITH THE CAMPBELL CREST FROM K.M., BEFORE HER MARRIAGE by THOMAS CAMPBELL |