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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHITE MOMENTS, by KATHARINE LEE BATES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The best of life, what is it but white moments? Last Line: -- the starry shrines along our pilgrim road. Subject(s): Wellesley College | |||
THE best of life, what is it but white moments? Those swift illuminations when we see The flying shadows on the fragrant meadows As God beholds them from eternity. White moments, when the bliss of being worships, And fear and shame are heretics that burn In the holy fire of exquisite desire For love's surrender and for love's return. White moments, when a Power above the artist Catches his plodding chisel, sets it free, And from each urgent stroke there springs emergent The wayward grace that laughs at industry. White moments, when the drowsing soul, sense-muffled, Is stung awake by some keen arrow-flight, And rends the bestial, claiming its celestial Succession in the lineage of light. White moments, when the spirit, long confronted By all the bitter formulae of fate, Inveterate romancer, finds its answer In some mysterious faith inviolate. White moments, when the silence steals on sorrow, And in that hush the heart becomes aware Of wings that brood it, visions that seclude it Forevermore from folly, fear, and care. The best of life, what is it but white moments? Freedoms that break the chain and fling the load, Irradiations, ardors, consecrations, -- The starry shrines along our pilgrim road. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LINES WRITTEN TO A TRANSLATOR OF GREEK POETRY by MARGARET STEELE ANDERSON THE LESSER BEAUTY by MARGARET STEELE ANDERSON WORK by MARGARET STEELE ANDERSON IN MEMORY: MISS JEWETT by GRACE ALLERTON ANDREWS HERE ENTER NOT by KATHARINE CANBY BALDERSTON I CLEANED MY HOUSE TODAY by KATHARINE CANBY BALDERSTON MY GARDEN by KATHARINE CANBY BALDERSTON AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE FIRST VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT [1497] by KATHARINE LEE BATES |
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