Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FIREFLIES, by HUMPHRY DAVY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FIREFLIES, by                    
First Line: Again that lovely lamp from half its orb
Last Line: Repaying by its beauty for the pang.
Subject(s): Fireflies; Glowworms


AGAIN that lovely lamp from half its orb
Sends forth a mellow lustre, that pervades
The eastern sky, and meets the rosy light
Of the last sunbeams dying in the west.
The mountains all above are clear and bright,
Their giant forms distinctly visible,
Crested with shaggy chestnuts, or erect,
Bearing the helmed pine, or raising high
Their marble columns crown'd with grassy slopes
From rock to rock the foaming Lima pours
Full from the thunder-storm, rapid, and strong,
And turbid. Hush'd is the air in silence;
The smoke moves upwards, and its curling waves
Stand like a tree above. E'en in my heart,
By sickness weaken'd and by sorrow chill'd,
The balm of calmness seems to penetrate, --
Mild, soothing, genial in its influence.
Again I feel a freshness, and a power,
As in my youthful days, and hopes and thoughts
Heroical and high! The wasted frame
Soon in corporeal strength recruits itself,
And wounds the deepest heal; so in the mind,
The dearth of objects and the loss of hope
Are in the end succeeded by some births
Of new creative faculties and powers,
Brought forth with pain, but, like a vigorous child,
Repaying by its beauty for the pang.





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