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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DISORDER AND FRAILTY, by HENRY VAUGHAN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: When first thou didst even from the grave
Last Line: My heart, my verse.
Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist
First Line: When first thou didst even from the grave
Last Line: My heart, my verse.
Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist
When first thou didst even from the grave
And womb of darkness beckon out
My brutish soul, and to thy slave
Becam'st thyself, both guide and scout;
Even from that hour
Thou gotst my heart; and though here tossed
By winds, and bit with frost
I pine, and shrink
Breaking the link
'Twixt thee and me; and oft-times creep
Into th' old silence and dead sleep,
Quitting thy way
All the long day,
Yet, sure, my God! I love thee most.
Alas, thy love!
2
I threaten heaven, and from my cell
Of clay and frailty break and bud
Touched by thy fire and breath; thy blood
Too, is my dew, and springing well.
But while I grow
And stretch to thee, aiming at all
Thy stars and spangled hall,
Each fly doth taste,
Poison, and blast
My yielding leaves; sometimes a show'r
Beats them quite off, and in an hour
Not one poor shoot
But the bare root
Hid under ground survives the fall.
Alas, frail weed!
3
Thus like some sleeping exhalation
(Which waked by heat and beams, makes up
Unto that comforter, the sun,
And soars and shines; but ere we sup
And walk two steps,
Cooled by the damps of night, descends,
And, whence it sprung, there ends)
Doth my weak fire
Pine and retire,
And (after all my height of flames)
In sickly expirations tames
Leaving me dead
On my first bed
Until thy Sun again ascends.
Poor, falling star!
4
O, yes! but give wings to my fire,
And hatch my soul, until it fly
Up where thou art, amongst thy tire
Of stars, above infirmity;
Let not perverse
And foolish thoughts add to my bill
Of forward sins, and kill
That seed, which thou
In me didst sow,
But dress and water with thy grace,
Together with the seed, the place;
And for his sake
Who died to stake
His life for mine, tune to thy will
My heart, my verse.