Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A FLEETING GUEST by JOHN BANISTER TABB

First Line: THROUGH THE FOUL ARCH OF NIGHT
Last Line: INTO A TEAR!
Subject(s): NIGHT; BEDTIME;
Through the foul arch of night
On airy pinions white
It came to me,
And in the smile of day
All beautiful it lay,
Yet pale to see.

"Whence comest thou?" I cried;
A silence soft replied:
"From regions vast --
The ocean gave me birth
And thence through heaven to earth
My spirit passed."

As o'er an elfin bright
I bent with strange delight,
But all too near;
For lo! my breathing warm
Dissolved the magic charm
Into a tear!



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