FROM this high window, in the twilight dim, I look beyond a lofty garden wall, And see well-ordered walks and borders trim, With trellised vines and ranks of fruit-trees tall. Along the darkling shrubbery, where most The garden's olden lord at evening strayed, I half perceive a silent, stately ghost Taking dim shape against the denser shade. His footstep makes no rustle in the grass, Nor shakes the tenderest blossom on its stem; The light leaves bend aside to let him pass, -- Or is it but the wind that touches them? A statesman, with a grave, reflective air, Once used to walk there, in the shadows sweet; Now the broad apple-trees, his pride and care, Spread their pink carpet wide for alien feet. Beneath those friendly boughs, with mind unbent, He found sometimes a respite sweet and brief; Threaded the wandering ways in pleased content, And plucked a flower, or pulled a fragrant leaf; Twined a stray tendril, lopped a straggling limb, Or raised a spray that drooped across the walk; Watched unscared birds that shared the shade with him, Saw robins build, or heard the sparrows talk. His native streets now hardly know his name; And in the world of politics, wherein He toiled so long and earned an honored fame, It is almost as though he had not been. Amid the earnest councils of the land, His lofty form, his cold and clear-cut face, His even voice, and wise restraining hand Are known no more, and others take his place. But in this haunt of quietude and rest, Which for so many years he loved and knew, The bird comes back to build its annual nest, The months return, with sun and snow and dew. Nature lives on, though king or statesman dies; Thus mockingly these little lives of ours, So brief, so transient, seem to emphasize The immortality of birds and flowers! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COLLEGE COLONEL by HERMAN MELVILLE MARY'S GIRLHOOD (FOR A PICTURE): 1 by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE CLOUD by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY CLEVER TOM CLINCH GOING TO BE HANGED by JONATHAN SWIFT ARAB LOVE SONG by FRANCIS THOMPSON ALMOND BLOSSOM by EDWIN ARNOLD COSMIC BLESSINGS by SISTER BENEDICTION THE WANDERER: 5. IN HOLLAND: TO CORDELIA by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |