I LOVE the dusky twilight hour When at my fireside I sit, And watch its jaws of flame outpour, Light, graceful forms, which upward flit. Like living flowers swift they rise, Where its red heart most deeply glows, And deck, like maids with laughing eyes, Their breasts with a golden rose. Their curls -- gay, glitt'ring serpents sleek -- Mount writhing, dart toward me, And breathe upon my faded cheek Youth's vanished sorcery. And higher mid the radiance, see, Their arms they stretch into the night, In a wild dance of elfin glee Which stirs the heart with keen delight. While burning kisses fervid glow, And still the whirling dance goes on, Ere longing doth fulfilment know -- By their own flames consumed, they're gone. My head upon my hand I rest, Gaze at the hearth, so dull, so dark; Would that the fire within my breast Might die as soon to its last spark! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OH, SWEET CONTENT by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES TO THE LADYBIRD by MOTHER GOOSE SONG (10) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ON THE SITE OF A MULBERRY-TREE PLANTED BY SHAKESPEARE ... by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI SONNET: 73 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE OF THE REED THAT THE JEWS SET IN OUR SAVIOUR'S HAND by WILLIAM ALABASTER VERAZZANO AT RHODES AND RHODE ISLAND by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH |