Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODELETTE, by GREGOIRE LE ROY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODELETTE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I might have made all men aware
Last Line: Lest all his wealth of love be known.
Subject(s): Begging & Beggars; Love


I MIGHT have made all men aware
What Love was mine
When full noon filled the air
With warm sunshine
From summer's red gold that such joy doth distil
That his laughter sounds shrill
As one drunken with wine.

I might have cried out:
My Love is all gladness, behold
The mantle of purple that down to his feet
About him doth fold!
His hands are replete
With roses a-flutter that scatter their sweet;
The sky hath no cloud
Above his warm dwelling of marble that seems
As a blue-veinéd flesh in its whiteness
Most smooth to the mouth. ...

'Tis otherwise:
I dress him in a homespun pleat,
His mantle drags about his feet;
There hardly lies
A smile about his lips as he doth fleet,
And when he sings it is an air
So dim that no man turns to hear
Nor gather up his song-bud blown
That fills the twilight full of scent;
He hath not garden, roof or tent,
But wears in truth a beggar's wear
Lest all his wealth of love be known.





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