O Fairy form, O flower-like face, O piteous tender breast, Why did you come with your childish grace And trouble my heart's rest? The tide, my darling, is bitter and deep That washes that cruel shore. The happy lovers are those that sleep And love not any more. Calm filmy dreams thro' each tired head Flow softly, mingle and flow. The happy lovers are those that are dead, That died full long ago. O child, forgive me; I lie, I lie With an evil blasphemy! I lie to the clouds in the air above! I lie to the earth and the sea! The living, the living must worship love! The dead, the dead must be. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE COMING OF SNOW by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE AWAKENING by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON LOHENGRIN; PROEM by EMMA LAZARUS TO AN EARLY DAFFODIL; SONNET by AMY LOWELL DOMESDAY BOOK: FATHER WHIMSETT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |