WHAT awful perspective! while from our sight With gradual stealth the lateral windows hide Their Portraitures, their stone-work glimmers, dyed In the soft chequerings of a sleepy light. Martyr, or King, or sainted Eremite, Whoe'er ye be, that thus, yourselves unseen, Imbue your prison-bars with solemn sheen, Shine on, until ye fade with coming Night! -- But, from the arms of silence -- list! O list! The music bursteth into second life; The notes luxuriate, every stone is kissed By sound, or ghost of sound, in mazy strife; Heart-thrilling strains, that cast, before the eye Of the devout, a veil of ecstasy! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MENELAUS AND HELEN by RUPERT BROOKE TO HIS MISTRESS OBJECTING TO HIM NEITHER TOYING OR TALKING by ROBERT HERRICK THE TUFT OF KELP by HERMAN MELVILLE A CONSISTENT GIRL by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS TO HASEKAWA by WALTER CONRAD ARENSBERG SOLILOQUIES OF A SMALL-TOWN TAXI-DRIVER: ON THE WRITING OF POETRY by EDGAR BARRATT SANTA BARBARA by FRANCIS FISHER BROWNE THE APOLOGY; ADDRESSED TO THE CRITICAL REVIEWERS by CHARLES CHURCHILL |