STAY, coward blood, and do not yield To thy pale sister beauty's field, Who, there displaying round her white Ensigns, hath usurp'd thy right, Invading thy peculiar throne, The lip, where thou shouldst rule alone; And on the cheek, where Nature's care Allotted each an equal share, Her spreading lily only grows, Whose milky deluge drowns thy rose. Quit not the field, faint blood, nor rush In the short sally of a blush Upon thy sister foe, but strive To keep an endless war alive: Though peace do petty states maintain, Here war alone makes beauty reign. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST by RUDYARD KIPLING ENDYMION by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LINCOLN by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL EPIGRAM: PERJURY by ROBERT NUGENT STRANGE FILAMENT by LILLIAN M. (PETTES) AINSWORTH TO MY WIFE by WILLIAM ROSE BENET A DAY IN THE CASTLE OF ENVY by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |