WHAT aim had they, the Pair of Monks, in size Enormous, dragged, while side by side they sate, By panting steers up to this convent gate? How, with empurpled cheeks and pampered eyes, Dare they confront the lean austerities Of Brethren who, here fixed, on Jesu wait In sackcloth, and God's anger deprecate Through all that humbles flesh and mortifies? Strange contrast! -- verily the world of dreams, Where mingle, as for mockery combined, Things in their very essences at strife, Shows not a sight incongruous as the extremes That everywhere, before the thoughtful mind, Meet on the solid ground of waking life. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SENRYU: BLIND DATE by TIMOTHY LIU HOLY POEMS: 2 by GEORGE BARKER TO JANE: THE RECOLLECTION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE MORAL FABLES: THE SHEEP AND THE DOG by AESOP REMEMBER OR FORGET by C. HAMILTON AIDE THE BLUEBELLS OF NEW ENGLAND by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH PERPLEXITY by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA |