WHAT can I give thee back, O liberal And princely giver, who hast brought the gold And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold, And laid them on the outside of the wall For such as I to take or leave withal, In unexpected largesse? am I cold, Ungrateful, that for these most manifold High gifts, I render nothing back at all? Not so; not cold, -- but very poor instead. Ask God who knows. For frequent tears have run The colors from my life, and left so dead And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done To give the same as pillow to thy head. Go farther! let it serve to trample on. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RESOLUTION OF DEPENDENCE by GEORGE BARKER CHURCHILL'S GRAVE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON EPISTLE TO MR. MURRAY by GEORGE GORDON BYRON ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE by THOMAS GRAY THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 71 by OMAR KHAYYAM |