Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN, by MARCUS S. C. RICKARDS First Line: Tho' cool the hour, a fever blazed within Last Line: Became our choice. Subject(s): Beauty; Dreams; Sin; Truth; Voices; Nightmares | ||||||||
THO' cool the hour, a fever blazed within The Pair that stood, Stript of fresh innocence, beguiled by sin, Disclaimed of Good -- When lo! His footfall, and each culprit flees To lurk amid umbrageous fruitful trees, Which, as the Voice floats down the evening breeze, Their forms seclude. And we, their coward heirs, the guilt repeat, And learn the guile: Happy and free, forbidden fruit we eat, And feeling vile, Our naked spirits catch the herald stride Of coming Judgment, and in terror hide Mid leaves and fruitage, hoping to abide In safe exile. All sweet for food, and pleasant to the gaze, Those trees of Joy Dream on in loveliness, while mid the maze We feed and toy: In rich profusion fruit around us bends; Soft Pleasure her luxurious story spends; Art, Beauty, Knowledge, each a magic lends Faint hearts to buoy. In vain, in vain! the fuller the delight The more they sink; For through the tangled arbour, His keen sight Has pierced, we think: Else, why the awful clarion tones that sound Clear above laugh and song mid Pleasure's round, Forewarning us that none that Truth has found From doom may slink. "Where art thou?" so the restless, fevered heart Translates that Voice -- "Thou, whose rebellion merits penal smart, Canst thou rejoice?" Lord God! before thy Majesty we fall, Nor shirk the sentence, since we welcome all Thy Grace provides, sad only that sin's thrall Became our Choice. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VARIATIONS: 14 by CONRAD AIKEN VARIATIONS: 18 by CONRAD AIKEN LIVE IT THROUGH by DAVID IGNATOW A DREAM OF GAMES by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE DREAM OF WAKING by RANDALL JARRELL APOLOGY FOR BAD DREAMS by ROBINSON JEFFERS GIVE YOUR WISH LIGHT by ROBINSON JEFFERS A DREAM OF PERFECTION by MARCUS S. C. RICKARDS |
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