The fire to see my wrongs for anger burneth; The air in rain for my affliction weepeth; The sea to ebb for grief his flowing turneth; The earth with pity dull the centre keepeth; Fame is with wonder blazed; Time runs away for sorrow; Place standeth still amazed, To see my night of evils, which hath no morrow. Alas, all only she no pity taketh To know my miseries, but, chaste and cruel. My fall her glory maketh: Yet still her eyes give to my flames their fuel. Fire, burn me quite, till sense of burning leave me; Air, let me draw no more thy breath in anguish; Sea, drowned in thee, of tedious life bereave me; Earth, take this earth, wherein my spirits languish. Fame, say I was not born, Time, haste my dying hour; Place, see my grave uptorn; Fire, air, sea, earth, fame, time, place, show your power. Alas, from all their helps I am exiled; For hers am I, and death fears her displeasure. Fie, death, thou art beguiled; Though I be hers, she makes of me no treasure. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONG OF TWO CROWS by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE POET SPEAKS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 14 by JAMES JOYCE THE POET; SONNET by AMY LOWELL THE SLAVE TRADE: VIEW FROM THE MIDDLE PASSAGE by CLARENCE MAJOR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JOHN WASSON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |