When the dawn struck on Memnon, as they say, The child of morning answered; so the stroke Of this warm sunshine on the room, awoke To song those lesser children of the day, The window-flies; I watched each mazy track, I saw them deftly treading the smooth pane, Or, haply, flitting with prone wings and back, To the near cornice, to return again. Ah! little ones! your joy is brief and vain: Full soon the brush shall sweep your tiny forms, Supine and dumb, into the wind and rain; 'Tis sad to be swept out into the storms. 'Twere sadder to revive, and cast about For foothold, in that roaring world without! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GARDEN DAYS: 7. THE GARDENER by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON BEAUTIFUL WOMEN by WALT WHITMAN THE BEST MEMORIAL by AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS UPON THE LATE LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT OF FIRE ... by JOHN ALLISON (1645-1683) CONCERT PARTY: BUSSEBOOM by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN PENNYROYAL by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH |