Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


RENAISSANCE by JOHN COWPER POWYS

Poem Explanation

First Line: STILL WE HEAR IT
Last Line: OF THOSE THAT WORSHIP THE SUN!
Subject(s): IMMORTALITY; MOON; NIGHT; PRAYER; SUN; BEDTIME;

Still we hear it --
Clear, immortal, undying, --
The old sweet chant
Of those that worship the sun!

Pallid, perverse, diseased,
The mystical rabble
Gibber and twitter and weep.
With a waving of leprous arms,
With a beating of epicene breasts,
They mutter their prayers to the night,
And the moon, their odalisque.

But still we hear it --
Clear, immortal, undying, --
The old sweet chant
Of those that worship the sun!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net