Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PROVENCE, by GUSTAVE KAHN Poet's Biography First Line: Hers is a fine and buoyant face Last Line: And of tall grass made tenderer. Subject(s): Faces; Lips; Pain; Smiles; Suffering; Misery | ||||||||
HERS is a fine and buoyant face; Yet the small features have a noble trace; Her flesh's clear grace Evokes no floral image of delight; 'Tis the flesh's grace, even as through space The silver of star-light. Broad is her brow, White as the temple where but now Has prayed a faithful worshipper; Of deepest red the lips of her, Not purple as the bauble of a king, But like a bay whose savor has a sting, A savor with a hint of pain Which being gathered lives again, Under our kisses lives again, Symbol of all faint hope and longing vain. Soft are her eyes seeing naught save Seas of a silvery blue and gardens by the wave. They keep a wide attentive air Wounded by the music fair Of sweet songs that rise and fall In soft speech of that litoral, Ardent and fragrant by the free Divine Mediterranean sea. And when she smiles, There is clearness on the isles, The far, white isles from which is borne When awakens the fresh morn Radiance of golden sheaves to her, And of tall grass made tenderer. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PARTHENOPHIL AND PARTHENOPHE: MADRIGAL 14 by BARNABE BARNES SONNETS IN SHADOWS: 1 by ARLO BATES IN PRAISE OF PAIN by HEATHER MCHUGH THE SYMPATIZERS by JOSEPHINE MILES |
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