THROUGHOUT his span of argent days From birth to death, -- a narrow zone, -- He wanders by untrodden ways, Alone, yet not alone. For ariel fancy moulds him mirth, A slave to work his lightest whim; And every vagrant wind of earth Is company for him. He sees a brother in the star Set on the evening's violet verge, And like his own the pulse-beats are In the deep ocean surge. He finds a fellow in the tree Reliant in its thews of power, And, rival of the lover bee, He woos the lady flower. He from the poet brook beguiles The secret of its clearest rhyme, And year on shortening year he smiles In the hard face of Time. So when he slips from earth at last, This alien in the clay, it seems As though from bondage he had passed To fairer, freer dreams. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NEVERNESS, OR THE ONE SHIP BEACHED ON ONE FAR DISTANT SHORE by MARGARET AVISON EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 22. 'TIS HONOURABLE TO BE LOVE'S MARTYR by PHILIP AYRES A DEAD ROSE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING A CAUTION AGAINST DESPAIR by JOHN BYROM THE DEVIL'S DRIVE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A BOLD STROKE FOR A WIFE: PROLOGUE by SUSANNA (FREEMAN) CENTLIVRE |