He stands, a patient figure, where the crowd Heaves to and fro; a sound is in his ears As of a vexed sea roaring, and he hears In darkness, as a dead man in his shroud. Patient he stands, with age and sorrow bowed, And holds a piteous hat of ancient years; And in his face and gesture there appears The desperate humbleness of poor men proud. What thoughts are his, as, with the inward sight, He sees the glad unheeding Fair go by? Is the long darkness darker for that light, And sorrow nearer when such mirth is night? Patient, alone, he stands from morn to night, Pleading in his reproachful misery. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLADE OF EGREGIOUSNESS by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS ON MICHAEL ANGELO by WASHINGTON ALLSTON BAB-LOCK-HYTHE by LAURENCE BINYON STANZAS by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD ON SEEING MISS FONTENELLE IN A FAVOURITE CHARACTER by ROBERT BURNS THE OLD MEN AND THE YOUNG MEN by WITTER BYNNER THE BAPTISTRY by ADA CAMBRIDGE |