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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 2, 5 by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: NO SHAME DISSUADES HIS THOUGHT, NO SCORN DESPOILS
Last Line: FLUNG TO THE OFFAL HEAP WITH SHARD AND SHUCK.

No shame dissuades his thought, no scorn despoils
Of beauty, who, the daily heaven beneath,
Gathers his bread by runsides, rocks and groves.
He drinks from rivers of a thousand soils,
And where broad Nature blows, he takes his breath:
For so his thought stands like the things he loves,
In thunderous purple like Cascadnac peak,
Or glimpses faint with grass and cinquefoils.
The friend may listen with a sneering cheek,
Concede the matter good and wish good luck,
Or plainly say, "Your brain is planet-struck!"
And drop your hoarded thought as vague and vain
Like bypast flowers, to redden again in rain,
Flung to the offal heap with shard and shuck.



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