Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DISTURBING SPIRIT, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DISTURBING SPIRIT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Doubt, despairing, crime, and craft
Last Line: Well may bend to thee, o love!
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia


DOUBT, despairing, crime, and craft,
Are upon that honied shaft.
It has made the crowned king
Crouch beneath his suffering;
Made the beauty's cheek more pale
Than the foldings of her veil:
Like a child the soldiers kneel,
Who had mocked at flame or steel;
Bade the fires of genius turn
On their own breasts; and there burn,
A wound, a blight, a curse, a doom,
Bowing young hearts to the tomb.
Well may storm be on the sky,
And the waters roll on high,
When that passion passes by:
Earth below, and heaven above,
Well may bend to thee, O love!





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