Singer of Avon in your matchless verse, Which never mortal can or will transcend, There moves before us as upon a screen, In all its pomp and tinselled tawdriness, The endless pageantry of human life. In tragedy and comedy you limn All passions of the heart. Man's jealousies, His hopes and fears, his ruthlessness, and hates; But too, you paint his great nobility, His courage, loyalty, and depth of love, That lift him to the heights of sacrifice For principles involving right and wrong. You show us in contrasting light and shade The littleness and greatness that combine To fashion man . . . raise him above the beast. In every land, in many diverse tongues, All those who read can see the pictures clear You etched in words. Your work lives on today As yesterday, and as it will in far Tomorrows of the world. Your name, among Some lesser few, will live while time shall last And this mayhap is that much longed-for goal That man forever seeks and strives to gain, Which he terms -- immortality. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CAMPUS SONNET: MAY MORNING by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET POETRY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE FEAST OF LIGHTS by EMMA LAZARUS LA RONDE DU DIABLE by AMY LOWELL SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MRS. CHARLES BLISS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |