Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SANCTUARY, by WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SANCTUARY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sweep over me, o lovely winds
Last Line: Face down, and calls on you.
Subject(s): Hearts; Pain; Rain; Sanctuaries; Wind; Suffering; Misery


Sweep over me, O lovely winds,
That shake the tasseled oak!
The patience of the ancient earth
Turns blossom at your stroke,
The very grievance of the air
Thins out to silver smoke.

Sweep over me, O youthful winds,
And I will lie as dead
Upon the leaves that lived last year,
With new leaves overhead.
Has your beneficence no balm
For hearts grown wearied?

There's weariness of labor done
That dark and sleep appease;
And fragrant weariness of flesh,
Delightfuller than ease;
But there's a weariness that comes
More wearily than these,

With neither blossoms in its hair,
Nor sleepy sound of rain,
Nor bearing ointments to allay
The heart that's sick with pain.
There is a weariness that comes
And does not go again.

O ancient earth that never tires,
O heavens that renew,
O winds that foam and flash and blow
Forever fresh as dew,
There is a wounded thing that lies
Face down, and calls on you.





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