WHAT shall be said of this embattled day And armed occupation of this night By all thy foes beleaguered,--now when sight Nor sound denotes the loved one far away? Of these thy vanquished hours what shalt thou say,-- As every sense to which she dealt delight Now labours lonely o'er the stark noon-height To reach the sunset's desolate disarray? Stand still, fond fettered wretch! while Memory's art Parades the Past before thy face, and lures Thy spirit to her passionate portraitures: Till the tempestuous tide-gates flung apart Flood with wild will the hollows of thy heart, And thy heart rends thee, and thy body endures. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN ETERNITY by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH CONTRA MORTEM: THE WATER by HAYDEN CARRUTH HOW MY HEART SINKS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON GUILIELMUS REX by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE PINES AND THE SEA by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH THE DONG WITH A LUMINOUS NOSE by EDWARD LEAR TO MY BOOKS by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON THE WOUND-DRESSER by WALT WHITMAN SEVEN SAD SONNETS: 6. THE WANDERING ONE MAKES MUSIC by MARY REYNOLDS ALDIS |