Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO K. H., by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN Poet's Biography First Line: O far withdrawn into the lonely west Last Line: Round-arched, goes up to god in lapis lazuli? Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E. Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation | ||||||||
O FAR withdrawn into the lonely West, To whom those Irish hills are as a grave Cairn-crowned, the dead sun's monument, And this fair English land but vaguely guessed -- Thee, lady, by the melancholy wave I greet, where salt winds whistle through the bent, And harsh sea-holly buds beneath thy foot are pressed. What is thy thought? 'Tis not the obvious scene That holds thee with its grand simplicity Of natural forms. Thou musest rather What larger life may be, what richer sheen Of social gloss in lands beyond the sea, What nobler cult than where, around thy father, The silent fishers pray in chapel small and mean. Yes, thou art absent far -- thy soul has slipt The visual bond, and thou art lowly kneeling Upon a pavement with the sacred kisses Of emerald and ruby gleamings lipped; And down the tunnelled nave the organ, pealing, Blows music-storm, and with far-floating blisses Gives tremor to the bells, and shakes the dead men's crypt. This is thy thought; for this thou heav'st the sigh. Yet, lady, look around thee! hast thou not The life of real men, the home, The tribe, and for a temple that old sky, Whereto the sea intones the polyglot Of water-pipes antiphonal, and the dome, Round-arched, goes up to God in lapis lazuli? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EVENING OF THE MIND by DONALD JUSTICE CHRISTMAS AWAY FROM HOME by JANE KENYON THE PROBLEM by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES WHEN A WOMAN LOVES A MAN by DAVID LEHMAN THIS UNMENTIONABLE FEELING by DAVID LEHMAN A SERMON AT CLEVEDON; GOOD FRIDAY by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN |
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