Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ALCYONE, by FRANCES LAUGHTON MACE Poet's Biography First Line: Among the thousand, thousand spheres that roll Last Line: I follow, follow to alcyone! | ||||||||
I AMONG the thousand, thousand spheres that roll, Wheel within wheel, through never-ending space, A mighty and interminable race, Yet held by some invisible control, And led as to a sure and shining goal, One star alone, with still, unchanging face, Looks out from her perpetual dwelling-place, Of these swift orbs the centre and the soul. Beyond the moons that beam, the stars that blaze, Past fields of ether, crimson, violet, rose, The vast star-garden of eternity, Behold! it shines with white immaculate rays, The home of peace, the haven of repose, The lotus-flower of heaven, Alcyone. II It is the place where life's long dream comes true; On many another swift and radiant star Gather the flaming hosts of those who war With powers of darkness; those stray seraphs, too, Who hasten forth God's ministries to do: But here no sounds of eager trumpets mar The subtler spell which calls the soul from far, Its wasted springs of gladness to renew. It is the morning land of the Ideal, Where smiles, transfigured to the raptured sight, The joy whose flitting semblance now we see; Where we shall know, as visible and real, Our life's deep aspiration, old yet new, In the sky-splendor of Alcyone. III What lies beyond we ask not. In that hour When first our feet that shore of beauty press, It is enough of heaven, its sweet success, To find our own. Not yet we crave the dower Of grander action and sublimer power; We are content that life's lone loneliness Finds in love's welcoming its rich redress, And hopes, deep hidden, burst in perfect flower. Wait for me there, O loved of many days! Though with warm beams some beckoning planet glows, Its dawning triumphs keep, to share with me: For soon, far winging through the starry maze, Past fields of ether, crimson, violet, rose, I follow, follow to Alcyone! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PHANTOM CITY by FRANCES LAUGHTON MACE THE SUCCESSION by FRANCES LAUGHTON MACE THY SONG by FRANCES LAUGHTON MACE I KNOW, I REMEMBER, BUT HOW CAN I HELP YOU by HAYDEN CARRUTH POETS ARE BORN NOT MADE by ROBERT FROST TO TWO UNKNOWN LADIES by AMY LOWELL APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE COUNT THAT DAY LOST by MARY ANN EVANS COLONIAL SET by ALFRED GOLDSWORTHY BAILEY |
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