Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 18. THE MIRROR SPEAKS, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


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UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 18. THE MIRROR SPEAKS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Where the bells peal far at sea
Last Line: Henry james, shall come again.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): James, Henry (1843-1916)


Where the bells peal far at sea
Cunning fingers fashioned me.
There on palace walls I hung
While that Consuelo sung;
But I heard, though I listened well,
Never a note, never a trill,
Never a beat of the chiming bell.
There I hung and looked, and there
In my gray face, faces fair
Shone from under shining hair.

Well I saw the poising head,
But the lips moved and nothing said;
And when lights were in the hall,
Silent moved the dancers all.

So awhile I glowed, and then
Fell on dusty days and men;
Long I slumbered packed in straw,
Long I none but dealers saw;
Till before my silent eye
One that sees came passing by.

Now with an outlandish grace,
To the sparkling fire I face
In the blue room at Skerryvore;
Where I wait until the door
Open, and the Prince of Men,
Henry James, shall come again.





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