Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THOMAS HARDY, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THOMAS HARDY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Master of human smiles and human moan
Last Line: To live for love, and for love's sake to die.
Subject(s): Death; Fate; Life; Love; Praise; Smiles; Dead, The; Destiny


Master of human smiles and human moan,
Of strange soul-searchings, raptures, agonies,
Passions that ask for bread and find a stone,
Hopes hungered into madness like the seas,
And Pity dumb with pleading like the wind:
Prophet art thou of that mysterious tongue
Wherewith our ancient Mother, deaf and blind,
Her griefs immortal and her joys hath sung
In the unheeding ears of human-kind.

O Master, thine a special meed of praise
From me whose heart is all thy sweet West's own,
Hushed with the dew that dreams on orchard sprays
With clover scents about the woodlands blown.
Full oft in those enchanted solitudes,
When fairy fingers ring the flowery bells,
And make a thousand mystic interludes
To the slow weaving of Hymettian spells,
Cool-couched on mossy bank I've floated down
The fair, swift currents of unnumbered dreams,
Plucked Amaranth blossoms by Elysian streams
And kissed the starry skirts of Dian's gown.

And there, in commune with thy mighty heart,
I saw how life's light wreath of summer roses
Remorseless Fate's inveterate frown discloses,
And sullen Death's intolerable dart:
Saw man's last hope beneath a soulless sky
To live for Love, and for Love's sake to die.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


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