Immediates? Well we have birth and sickness and death, And hunger for whispering water and good white bread. Immediates? Fireside warmth and a caught breath At flowering stars, and a friendly body in bed. There are times when the eye of the spirit can see it all, But voice and pencil are never enough to enrich The man next door with a flame. They are only a scrawl On the edge of a picture, one note on the pipes, one stitch In a seam so woven that fabric and thread are one. It is good to look at this hour and then set free Protest and studied invective; granted and done; There is virtue, too, in a gray and dragonish sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLD FOLKS AT HOME by STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER TO DOCTOR EMPIRIC by BEN JONSON OLD KING COLE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE IDEAL GENERAL by ARCHILOCHUS THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 9: GREAT WESTERN DAYS by T. BAKER SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 37. NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |