Hush! for the shadow of a flower Upon a sun-warmed stone, Your "Highest Truth" with all its power I'd willingly disown. Hush! for a glance thro' the lattice flung Upon a sleeping brow, Your "Thunder of the Immortal Tongue" I'd lightly disavow. The eternal law, the deep life-stream, Why should I worship these? Better the briefest human dream Among the fading trees! Better the frailest human touch When the harebells cover the hill, Or the broken memory of such When the heart has its will! Better the toss of the daffodil's head When the swallow dips in the pool! Better the rain on the crocus-bed That keeps the twilight cool! Better -- I see it now! -- that look, Mixed strangely with shells and sand, And the uncut page of a curious book And the quiver of a hand! The little things -- the little things -- The things that fade and die -- The perfume of their passing brings More than Eternity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ESSAY: AT NIGHT THE AUTOPORTRAIT AT NIGHT by ELENI SIKELIANOS THE EXCHANGE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION; A POEM. ENLARGED VERSION: BOOK 4 by MARK AKENSIDE SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 39. NOT CHRIST, BUT CHRIST'S GOD by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) WE WALKED AMONG THE WHISPERING PINES by JOHN HENRY BONER |