Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RAPTURE, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RAPTURE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Because, from all that round thee move
Last Line: I have no flowers that he can mow.
Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord
Subject(s): Worship


BECAUSE, from all that round Thee move,
Planets of Beauty, Strength, and Grace,
I am elected to Thy love,
And have my home in Thy embrace;
I wonder all men do not see
The crown that Thou hast set on me.

Because, when, prostrate at Thy feet,
Thou didst emparadise my pain, --
Because Thy heart on mine has beat,
Thy head within my hands has lain,
I am transfigured, by that sign,
Into a being like to Thine.

The mirror from its glossy plain
Receiving still returns the light,
And, being generous of its gain,
Augments the very solar might:
What unreflected light would be,
Is just Thy spirit without me.

Thou art the flame, whose rising spire
In the dark air sublimely sways,
And I the tempest that swift fire
Gathers at first and then obeys:
All that was Thine ere we were wed
Have I by right inherited.

Is life a stream? Then from Thy hair
One rosebud on the current fell,
And straight it turned to crystal there,
As adamant immovable:
Its steadfast place shall know no more
The sense of after and before.

Is life a plant? The King of years
To mine nor good nor ill can bring; --
Mine grows no more; no more it fears
Even the brushing of his wing:
With sheathed scythe I see him go, --
I have no flowers that he can mow.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net