Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TRUTH, by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A rock, for ages, stern and high Last Line: The brightest blooms and fairest leaves. Subject(s): Truth | ||||||||
A rock, for ages, stern and high, Stood frowning 'gainst the earth and sky, And never bowed his haughty crest When angry storms around him prest. Morn, springing from the arms of night, Had often bathed his brow with light, And kissed the shadows from his face With tender love and gentle grace. Day, pausing at the gates of rest, Smiled on him from the distant West, And from her throne the dark-browed Night Threw round his path her softest light. And yet he stood unmoved and proud, Nor love, nor wrath, his spirit bowed; He bared his brow to every blast And scorned the tempest as it passed. One day a tiny, humble seed -- The keenest eye would hardly heed -- Fell trembling at that stern rock's base, And found a lowly hiding-place. A ray of light, and drop of dew, Came with a message, kind and true; They told her of the world so bright, Its love, its joy, and rosy light, And lured her from her hiding-place, To gaze upon earth's glorious face. So, peeping timid from the ground, She clasped the ancient rock around, And climbing up with childish grace, She held him with a close embrace; Her clinging was a thing of dread; Where'er she touched a fissure spread, And he who'd breasted many a storm Stood frowning there, a mangled-form; A Truth, dropped in the silent earth, May seem a thing of little worth, 'Till, spreading round some mighty wrong, It saps its pillars proud and strong, And o'er the fallen ruin weaves The brightest blooms and fairest leaves. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INCLINED TO SPEAK by LAWRENCE JOSEPH WHAT IS TRUTH? by JOHN BOWRING EVERYTHING THAT ACTS IS ACTUAL by DENISE LEVERTOV LYING MY HEAD OFF by CATE MARVIN TRUTH SERUM by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE FROST AND HIS ENEMIES by ROBERT BLY A DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER AN APPEAL TO MY COUNTRYWOMEN by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER |
|