Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO MY DEAR SISTER, MRS. S.: THE EXCUSE, by WILLIAM HAMMOND Poet's Biography First Line: Nor can your sex's easiness excuse Last Line: They're comets in the troubled air appear. Subject(s): Mourning; Bereavement | ||||||||
NOR can your sex's easiness excuse, Or countenance your tears to be profuse. Some She's there are, whose breath is only sighs; Who weep their own, in others' obsequies: But in the reason, like the Sun at noon, Dispels usurping clouds of passion; Where feminine defects are wanting, there All feminine excuses wanting are: Think not, since Virtue thee above them rears, A woman's name can privilege thy tears. Fortune material things only controls; But doth herself pay homage unto souls: There hath no power, can do no injury; The pavement where the stars their dances form By their own music, is above all storm: For meteors but imperfect mixtures are In the raw bosom of distemper'd air: Then let, thy soul shine in her crystal sphere! They're Comets in the troubled air appear. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HUNGERFIELD by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE MOURNER by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN HECUBA MOURNS by MARILYN NELSON THERE IS NO GOD BUT by AGHA SHAHID ALI IF I COULD MOURN LIKE A MOURNING DOVE by FRANK BIDART A DIALOGUE UPON DEATH; PHILLIS AND DAMON by WILLIAM HAMMOND |
|