If any have a stone to shy, Let him be David and not I; The lovely shepherd, brave and vain, Who has a maggot in the brain, Which, since the brain is bold and pliant, Takes the proportions of a giant. Alas, my legendary fate! Who sometimes rage, but never hate. Long, long before the pebble flieth I see a virtue in Goliath; Then like the lights of evening shine The features of the Philistine Until my spirit faints to see The beauty of my enemy. If any have a stone to fling Let him be a shepherd-king, Who is himself so beautiful He may detest the gross and dull With holy rage and heavenly pride To make a pebble sanctified And feather its course with wings of scorn. But, from the day that I was born Until like corn I bow to the sickle, I am in hatred false and fickle. I am most cruel to anyone Who hates me with devotion; I will not freeze, I will not burn; I make his heart a poor return For all the passion that he spends In swearing we shall never be friends; For all the pains his passion spent In hatred I am impotent; The sad perversity of my mind Sees in him my kin and kind. Alas, to lack the power to loathe! I like them each; I love them both; Philistine and shepherd-king They strike the pebble from my sling; My heart grows cold, my spirit grows faint; Behold, a hero and a saint Where appeared, a moment since, A giant and a heathen prince; And I am bound and given over To be no better than a lover, Alas, who strove as a holy rebel! They have broke my sling and stole my pebble: If any have a stone to throw It is not I, ever or now. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PROSPECT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING KEENAN'S CHARGE by GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP PICTURES FROM APPLEDORE: 3 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL ON A BOY'S FIRST READING OF THE PLAY OF 'KING HENRY THE FIFTH' by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL A VISION UPON [THIS CONCEIT] OF THE FAERIE QUEENE (1) by WALTER RALEIGH |