WHERE she succeeds with cloudless brow, In common and in holy course, He fails, in spite of prayer and vow And agonies of faith and force; Or, if his suit with Heaven prevails To righteous life, his virtuous deeds Lack beauty, virtue's badge; she fails More graciously than he succeeds. Her spirit, compact of gentleness, If Heaven postpones or grants her pray'r, Conceives no pride in its success, And in its failure no despair; But his, enamour'd of its hurt, Baffled, blasphemes, or, not denied, Crows from the dunghill of desert, And wags its ugly wings for pride. He's never young nor ripe; she grows More infantine, auroral, mild, And still the more she lives and knows The lovelier she's express'd a child. Say that she wants the will of man To conquer fame, not check'd by cross, Nor moved when others bless or ban; She wants but what to have were loss. Or say she wants the patient brain To track shy truth; her facile wit At that which he hunts down with pain Flies straight, and does exactly hit. Were she but half of what she is, He twice himself, mere love alone, Her special crown, as truth is his, Gives title to the worthier throne; For love is substance, truth the form; Truth without love were less than nought; But blindest love is sweet and warm, And full of truth not shaped by thought; And therefore in herself she stands Adorn'd with undeficient grace, Her happy virtues taking hands, Each smiling in another's face. So, dancing round the Tree of Life, They make an Eden in her breast, While his, disjointed and at strife, Proud-thoughted, do not bring him rest. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GALAHAD IN THE CASTLE OF THE MAIDENS by SARA TEASDALE APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE CHRISTMAS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR ESTRANGEMENT by WILLIAM WATSON PERFECT WOMAN by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |