SAW you ever face so fearless, Saw you ever face so fair, As the young Circassian's yonder, Gazing, mournful, into air? How his glance, his kingly carriage, Shame the Mongols couched below! — Bliss to her who'll call him lover; Death to him who'll find him foe. Shade of Helen! there's a Greek girl Might have dazzled Priam's son! With such eyes, such shining tresses, Was thy Trojan bold, undone! And if Paris were as princely As the Persian by her side, All the gods might give thee pity, Though a royal Spartan's bride. O these Border-Lands of Asia! What is in their sun, their air, That the women grow so beauteous, That the men such grandeur wear? Not the goddess loved of Odin, (Palest brow and perfect mouth), Charms like this Levantine maiden, Blossom of the glowing South! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HEROIC LOVE by JAMES GRAHAM (1612-1650) A FIT OF RHYME AGAINST RHYME [OR, RIME] by BEN JONSON A NICE CORRESPONDENT by FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON LUCASIA, ROSANIA, AND ORINDA PARTING AT A FOUNTAIN by KATHERINE PHILIPS INTROSPECTIVE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI PENITENTIAL PSALM by THOMAS WYATT IN AN ATELIER by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |