Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAPPHO AND PHAON: 20. TO PHAON by MARY DARBY ROBINSON

First Line: OH! I COULD TOIL FOR THEE O'ER BURNING PLAINS
Last Line: TOO PROUD TO SUE! TOO TENDER TO RESIGN!

Oh! I could toil for thee o'er burning plains;
Could smile at poverty's disastrous blow;
With thee, could wander 'midst a world of snow,
Where one long night o'er frozen Scythia reigns.
Severed from thee, my sickening soul disdains
The thrilling thought, the blissful dream to know,
And can'st thou give my days to endless woe,
Requiting sweetest bliss with cureless pains?
Away, false fear! nor think capricious fate
Would lodge a demon in a form divine!
Sooner the dove shall seek a tiger mate,
Or the soft snowdrop round the thistle twine;
Yet, yet, I dread to hope, nor dare to hate,
Too proud to sue! too tender to resign!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net