Alone I sat; the summer day Had died in smiling light away; I saw it die, I watched it fade From misty hill and breezeless glade; And thoughts in my soul were gushing, And my heart bowed beneath their power; And tears within my eyes were rushing Because I could not speak the feeling, The solemn joy around me stealing In that divine, untroubled hour. I asked myself, "O why has heaven Denied the precious gift to me, The glorious gift to many given To speak their thoughts in poetry? "Dreams have encircled me," I said, "From careless childhood's sunny time; Visions by ardent fancy fed Since life was in its morning prime." But now, when I had hoped to sing, My fingers strike a tuneless string; And still the burden of the strain Is "Strive no more; 'tis all in vain." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VILLAGE IN LATE SUMMER by CARL SANDBURG HIS LADY'S HAND by THOMAS WYATT THE ORIGIN OF DIDACTIC POETRY by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE FOOL'S PRAYER by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL MY SOLITUDE by JAMES R. AGGELES LOGOGRIPH by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD DER TAG: NELSON AND BEATTY by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES HUGH STUART BOYD: HIS DEATH, 1848 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |