Thee, Queen of Shadows! -- shall I still invoke, Still love the scenes thy sportive pencil drew, When on mine eyes the early radiance broke Which shew'd the beauteous rather than the true! Alas! long since those glowing tints are dead, And now 'tis thine in darkest hues to dress The spot where pale Experience hangs her head O'er the sad grave of murder'd Happiness! Thro' thy false medium, then, no longer view'd, May fancied pain and fancied pleasure fly, And I, as from me all thy dreams depart, Be to my wayward destiny subdued: Nor seek perfection with a poet's eye, Nor suffer anguish with a poet's heart! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN A BYE-CANAL by HERMAN MELVILLE COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY WEDDED (PROVENCAL AIR) by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH ICED BRANCHES by KENNETH SLADE ALLING RETROSPECTIONS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE WATER LILY by MARY FRANCES MARSHALL BUTTS |