Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ROMANCERO: BOOK 2. LAMENTATIONS: LAZARUS. 7. IMPERFECTION, by HEINRICH HEINE Poet's Biography First Line: Nothing is perfect in this world of ours Last Line: A bosom, and a soul within it, fairest! Subject(s): Mythology; Perfection; Soul; Stars | ||||||||
NOTHING is perfect in this world of ours, The thorn grows with the rose, that queen of flowers; Methinks the angels, who for our protection Dwell in the skies, are stain'd with imperfection. The tulip has no scent. The saying is: Honour once stole a sucking-pig, old quiz; Had not Lucretia stabb'd herself, she may be Would have in time brought forth a thumping baby. The haughty peacock has but ugly feet; A woman may be witty and discreet, And yet, like Voltaire's Henriade, may weary, Or be, like Klopstock's famed Messias, dreary. The best of cows no Spanish knows, I ween, Massmann no Latin. Much too smooth are e'en The marble buttocks of Canova's Venus; Too flat is Massmann's nose (but this between us). In pretty songs are hidden wretched rhymes, As bees' stings in the honey lurk at times; Of vulnerable heel the son of Thetis, And Alexandre Dumas is quite a Metis. The fairest star that in the heavens has birth, When it has caught a cold, straight falls to earth; Prime cider of the barrel bears the traces, And many a spot the sun's bright face defaces. And thou, much honour'd Madam, even thou Faultless art not, nor free from failings now. "What, then, is wanting?" askest thou and starest, -- A bosom, and a soul within it, fairest! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EPIC STARS by ROBINSON JEFFERS HYMN TO THE STARS by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS CHRISTMAS TREE by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS CLEMATIS MONTANA by MADELINE DEFREES THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE by JAMES GALVIN TO SEE THE STARS IN DAYLIGHT by JAMES GALVIN |
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