Into which of the mind's moulds Will vision flow, The divine formulation grow? Once a woman perceived a holy head Dropping its shining blood Like fish-scales, or like rain-drops from the eaves. Elsewhere it is a lotus-flower Opening from the self-encentred Buddha Composed for ever like a still dancer, And once in Lambeth a hidden grain of sand Held all the world that vision can command, The great eternity within a poet's mind. Grandiose archaic faces, Contours of former souls' experience Stand between my vision and what they saw, Therefore come as a bird within the mind, Or as a single leaf upon a tree of leaves Suddenly made shining by the sun, Or break like day upon a simple stone Or in a dazzle of sunlight upon water, Come as a jewelled moth, a budding flower Come in a form I shall not too much fear. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OUTWARD BOUND by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH SCINTILLA by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 41 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AT THE TAVERN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR GOOD-BYE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON DEATH IN THE KITCHEN by THOMAS HOOD A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 50 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN |