I'm guided in the darkest night By flashes of auroral light, Which over dart thy eastern home And teach me not in vain to roam. Thy steady light on t'other side Pales the sunset, makes day abide, And after sunrise stays the dawn, Forerunner of a brighter morn. There is no being here to me But staying here to be When others laugh I am not glad, When others cry I am not sad, But be they grieved or be they merry I'm supernumerary. I am a miser without blame Am conscience stricken without shame. An idler am I without leisure, A busy body without pleasure. I did not think so bright a day Would issue in so dark a night. I did not think such sober play Would leave me in so sad a plight, And I should be most sorely spent Where first I was most innocent. I thought by loving all beside To prove to you my love was wide, And by the rites I soared above To show you my peculiar love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR LAUREL AND HARDY ON MY WORKROOM WALL by DAVID WAGONER ANOTHER FRANCIS OF ASSISI by FREDERICK HENRY HERBERT ADLER A VOYAGE TO CYTHERA by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE THE YOUNG FOWLER THAT MISTOOK HIS GAME; AN IDYLLIUM by BION TO THE DECEASED AUTHOR, UPON THE PROMISCUOUS PRINTING OF HIS POEMS by THOMAS BROWNE ON TYING DAPHNE'S SHOE by J. STUART BRYAN |