Daughter of song! how truly hast thou spoken! Yet deem not that to thee alone belong Sad memories of idols crush'd and broken, Of wounding falsehood, and of bitter wrong: Oh! in thy cares, thy trials, I can trace The lot appointed for thy gifted race. Genius is all too lavish of its feelings, It gives its tenderness of heavenly birth, To waste its bright and beautiful revealings On the dull common natures of the earth, Casting the flowers of a celestial land, To droop and wither upon barren sand. And earth's cold children cherish not the treasure, The pure and blessed offering they repel, Busied in worldly toil, or worldly pleasure, Their souls respond not to the hidden spell Touch'd by a hand whose skilful power was given As the peculiar boon of favouring Heaven. And must it then be so? -- must cold rejection Still mock the heart where Genius warmly glows? No! there is One on whom its deep affection In fearless trusting ardour may repose; Exhausting all the riches of its store, Yet ever in return receiving more. Yes: let it safely guard its true devotion From the low commerce of the worthless sod, Laying each fond and rapturous emotion A tribute at the holy shrine of God: Oh! where can gifted spirits wisely love, Save when they fix their hopes on One above? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THOUGHTS ON THE COMMANDMENTS by GEORGE AUGUSTUS BAKER JR. EROS by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES AN ODE TO THE RAIN by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE EROS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE CHARGE AT SANTIAGO by WILLIAM HAMILTON HAYNE THE ADOPTED CHILD by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 123 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 82. HOARDED JOY by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI |