There is a love so passionate it tears The heart. We feel its pangs and wonder why— When gazing at a flaming sunset sky, Or woods in autumn, or a sea that snares The moon and stars, or alabaster layers Of crusted pearl (that magic means whereby A dream-world rises)—we must ever sigh With pain aroused by beauty Nature wears. But why this blissful torment? Can it be That those who worship beauty grow aware Of that which mortal was not meant to see; The splendor flesh was never framed to share? Is pain a warning that our eyes are wide To loveliness that we should be denied? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JAPANESE MAPLES by JENNIE SCOTT ARNOLD THE YOUTH OF MAN by MATTHEW ARNOLD MOUNT RAINIER by HERBERT BASHFORD TO ROBERT SOUTHEY by MARIA GOWEN BROOKS ANOTHER WAY OF LOVE by ROBERT BROWNING ON A CORNELIAN HEART WHICH WAS BROKEN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE MARCH TO KINSALE; DECEMBER, 1601 by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE |