As Hermes once took to his feathers light, When lulled Argus, baffled, swoon'd and slept, So on a Delphic reed, my idle spright So play'd, so charm'd, so conquer'd, so bereft The dragon-world of all its hundred eyes; And, seeing it asleep, so fled away-- Not to pure Ida with its snow-cold skies, Nor unto Tempe where Jove griev'd a day; But to that second circle of sad hell, Where 'mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw, Pale were the lips I kiss'd, and fair the form I floated with, about that melancholy storm. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PLANTING OF THE APPLE TREE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: DEDICATORY SONNET by EDMUND SPENSER THALIA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH AND JESUS WEPT by MATTHEW BRIDGES THE DEAD SPARROW by GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS ALONE! STARK ALONE! by HARRIET HAMILTON COWELL STANZAS PRINTED ON BILLS OF MORTALITY: 1790 by WILLIAM COWPER |