IMPROMPTU SPEECHES by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

A sudden audience strikes a blow
On some men's brainy dynamite,
And, grandly crashing, up they go
In clouds of rhetoric out of sight,
And heaven be praised when they alight!

On my bewildered brain, alas!
Howe'er imperious fall the blow,
It strikes but on a flabby mass
Of feeble putty and of dough;
Of feeble intellectual dough.

Forefend that impious call inane
To more than Moses' miracle,
That bids me pierce my stubborn brain
For thought that will not heed the spell;
For eloquence that scorns the spell.

And teach all fools, ye blessed powers,
That thought must on still uplands fall
And slowly wind through musing hours
Before it leap to eyes of all
A torrent oratorical!

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...