Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PHILOMEL, by JOHN MYERS O'HARA Poet's Biography First Line: Listen, love! Last Line: In rapture about us and o'er us. Subject(s): Birds; Love; Nightingales; Passion | ||||||||
LISTEN, love! It is the nightingale's voice; Listen, love! He bids his true love rejoice; See, the dark glade Is a-pulse with his passion; See, the cascade That the moon is a-flash on Has joined in his hymn With a low intercession, Has drunken the vim Of his rapture's confession; As the tremolo sweet Of a silver pandore Sways in unison meet With the clink of a dance-girl's tambour. Listen, love! It is the nightingale's note; Listen, love! Its gushes of ecstasy float Down the blue gloom Of this odorous valley, Down the perfume Of this rose-girdled alley, Till they faint on the far Fragrant hill in the distance, Till they fade as a star In the morning's existence; Then pour down again In redoubled emotion Through the languorous glen, A rich wave from harmony's ocean. Listen, love! It is the nightingale's song; Listen, love! How its pure transports prolong As if his flame-soul Swooned away in the singing, As if his heart's roll Melted out in the ringing; As if he had borrowed The secret of gladness To draw those who sorrowed Away from their sadness; And in the dark hour, To brood, a bright spirit, Anear us to mark our Darkest foreboding and cheer it. Listen, love! It is the nightingale's tune; Listen, love! He is the spirit of June; He is the bright Irrepressible lover, Dismayed not by night Or the shadows that hover Oh, why art thou bold When thy mates are unheard? Thou'rt a seraph ensouled In the form of a bird; No other could fling Joy at grief that so bound him, No other could sing With such darkness depressing around him. Listen, love! It is the nightingale's rhyme; Listen, love! He is hid in the leaves of the lime; And it seems that the orbs Of you heaven are nearer, When his trilling absorbs All the murmur of fear or Vague tones of unrest And longings fulfilled not, Unsatisfied quest And the doubts that are stilled not; All these pass away And dissolve in the chorus Of his notes, that now sway In rapture about us and o'er us. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...APPULDURCOMBE PARK by AMY LOWELL FIVE ACCOUNTS OF A MONOGAMOUS MAN by WILLIAM MEREDITH ON PASSION AS A LITERARY TRADITION by JOHN CIARDI LES GRANDES PASSIONS MANQUEES by IRVING FELDMAN REVAMPING THE VIRGIN by KAREN SWENSON |
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