WHAT price, child, shall I pay for your bright eyes (How large a debt!) the light they shed on me? What for your cheeks, so red in their surprise, Your lips, your hands, your maiden gestures free, Your fair brows crowned with grave nobility, All the delight which in your presence lies, The words unsaid, the deeds which dare not be, The dreams undreamed, my meed of Paradise? —Nay, I can pay naught; your poor bankrupt I, Since gold may not nor frankincense nor myrrh Serve my account nor any gift of kings. Yet be my wealth yours, joys that fools deny, Knowledge of life, love, power as presbyter, The wit to teach youth's zeal to use its wings. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOW TIDE ON GRAND-PRE by BLISS CARMAN A PROPER NEW BALLAD [ENTITLED THE FAIRIES' FAREWELL] by RICHARD CORBET IN TENEBRIS: 2 by THOMAS HARDY THE PLOUGHMAN by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES TO HELEN (2) by EDGAR ALLAN POE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 42. AL-JAMIL by EDWIN ARNOLD ALFARABI; THE WORLD-MAKER. A RHAPSODICAL FRAGMENT by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES AN ADDRESS TO THE MOB ON OCCASION OF THE LATE RIOT ... HUGH PALLISER by WILLIAM COWPER |