Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CHARMIAN, by BAYARD TAYLOR Poet's Biography First Line: O daughter of the sun Last Line: Before thy dangerous beauty: I am free! Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard Subject(s): Beauty; Daughters; Memory; Soul | ||||||||
I. O DAUGHTER of the Sun; Who gave the keys of passion unto thee? Who taught the powerful sorcery Wherein my soul, too willing to be won, Still feebly struggles to be free, But more than half undone? Within the mirror of thine eyes, Full of the sleep of warm Egyptian skies, -- The sleep of lightning, bound in airy spell, And deadlier, because invisible, -- I see the reflex of a feeling Which was not, till I looked on thee: A power, involved in mystery, That shrinks, affrighted, from its OWL revealing. II. Thou sitt'st in stately indolence, Too calm to feel a breath of passion start The listless fibres of thy sense, The fiery slumber of thy heart. Thine eyes are wells of darkness, by the veil Of languid lids half-sealed: the pale And bloodless olive of thy face, And the full, silent lips that wear A ripe serenity of grace, Are dark beneath the shadow of thy hair. Not from the brow of templed Athor beams Such tropic warmth along the path of dreams; Not from the lips of horned Isis flows Such sweetness of repose! For thou art Passion's self, a goddess too, And aught but worship never knew; And thus thy glances, calm and sure, Look for accustomed homage, and betray No effort to assert thy sway: Thou deem'st my fealty secure. III. O Sorceress! those looks unseal The undisturbed mysteries that press Too deep in nature for the heart to feel Their terror and their loveliness. Thine eyes are torches that illume On secret shrines their unforeboded fires, And fill the vaults of silence and of gloom With the unresting life of new desires. I follow where their arrowy ray Pierces the veil I would not tear away, And with a dread, delicious awe behold Another gate of life unfold, Like the rapt neophyte who sees Some march of grand Osirian mysteries. The startled chambers I explore, And every entrance open lies, Forced by the magic thrill that runs before Thy slowly-lifted eyes. I tremble to the centre of my being Thus to confess the spirit's poise o'erthrown, And all its guiding virtues blown Like leaves before the whirlwind's fury fleeing. IV. But see! one memory rises in my soul, And, beaming steadily and clear, Scatters the lurid thunder-clouds that roll Through Passion's sultry atmosphere. An alchemy more potent borrow For thy dark eyes, enticing Sorcer ess! For on the casket of a sacred Sorrow Their shafts fall powerless. Nay, frown not, Athor, from thy mystic shrine: Strong Goddess of Desire, I will not be One of the myriad slaves thou callest thine, To cast my manhood's crown of royalty Before thy dangerous beauty: I am free! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRUEL FALCON by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE WHOLE SOUL by PHILIP LEVINE I KNOW MY SOUL by CLAUDE MCKAY HONORING THE SAND; IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL by ROBERT BLY THE CHINESE PEAKS; FOR DONALD HALL by ROBERT BLY THE LIFE OF TOWNS: TOWN OF THE EXHUMATION by ANNE CARSON BEDOUIN [LOVE] SONG by BAYARD TAYLOR NATIONAL ODE; INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA by BAYARD TAYLOR |
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