For me the Muse a simple band design'd Of "idle" flowers that bloom the woods among, Which, with the cypress and the willow join'd, A garland form'd as artless as my song. And little dared I hope its transient hours So long would last; composed of buds so brief; 'Till Hayley's hand among the vagrant flowers Threw from his verdant crown a deathless leaf. For high in Fame's bright fane has Judgment placed The laurel wreath Serena's poet won, Which, woven with myrtles by the hands of Taste, The Muse decreed for this her favorite son. And those immortal leaves his temples shade, Whose fair, eternal verdure -- shall not fade! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MASK by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING EPICOENE; OR, THE SILENT WOMAN: FREEDOM IN DRESS by BEN JONSON THE CROSS OF SNOW by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW A GENTLE ECHO ON WOMAN (IN THE DORIC MANNER) by JONATHAN SWIFT THE DAY-DREAM: MORAL by ALFRED TENNYSON PESSIMIST AND OPTIMIST by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE BLIND MAN by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. |