A YOUTH too certain of his power to wade On the smooth bottom of this clear bright sea, To sight so shallow, with a bather's glee Leapt from this rock, and but for timely aid He, by the alluring element betrayed, Had perished. Then might Sea-nymphs (and with sighs Of self-reproach) have chanted elegies Bewailing his sad fate, when he was laid In peaceful earth: for, doubtless, he was frank, Utterly in himself devoid of guile; Knew not the double-dealing of a smile; Nor aught that makes men's promises a blank, Or deadly snare: and He survives to bless The Power that saved him in his strange distress. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE by JAMES GALVIN NOT OUR GOOD LUCK by ROBINSON JEFFERS VILLAGE IN LATE SUMMER by CARL SANDBURG ON A GRAVE AT GRINDELWALD by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS FOUR PRELUDES ON PLAYTHINGS OF THE WIND by CARL SANDBURG ARCADIA: SESTINA by PHILIP SIDNEY IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 23 by ALFRED TENNYSON TO THE RIGHT HON! WILLIAM EARL OF DARTMOUTH by PHILLIS WHEATLEY THE PRELUDE: BOOK 1. CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL-TIME by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |