I SEE thee pine like her in golden story Who, in her prison, woke and saw, one day, The gates thrown open -- saw the sunbeams play, With only a web 'tween her and summer's glory; Who, when that web -- so frail, so transitory It broke before her breath -- had fallen away, Saw other webs and others rise for aye Which kept her prison'd till her hair was hoary. Those songs half-sung that yet were all-divine -- That woke Romance, the queen, to reign afresh -- Had been but preludes from that lyre of thine, Could thy rare spirit's wings have pierced the mesh Spun by the wizard who compels the flesh, But lets the poet see how heav'n can shine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE REVEALER by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THAT KIND OF POEM' by KAREN SWENSON IN THE BERKSHIRE HILLS by LOUIS UNTERMEYER A PHONECALL FROM FRANK O'HARA by ANNE WALDMAN THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD: PASTORAL 3. THE HAPPY COUNTRYMAN by NICHOLAS BRETON SONG, FR. ERNEST MALTRAVERS by EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON BULWER-LYTTON |