AS one that leadeth a blind man In a city, to and fro, Thought, even so, Leadeth me still wherever it will Through scenes of joy and woe. I have seen Lear, his white head crowned With poor straws, playing King; And, wearying Her cheeks' young flowers "with true-love showers," I have heard Ophelia sing. I have been in battles, and I have seen Stones at the martyrs hurled, -- Seen th' flames curled Round foreheads bold, and lips whence rolled The litanies of the world. But of all sad sights that ever I saw, The saddest under the sun, Is a little one, Whose poor pale face was despoiled of grace Ere yet its life begun. No glimpse of the good green Nature To gladden with sweet surprise The staring eyes, That only have seen, close walls between, A hand-breadth of the skies. Ah, never a bird is heard to sing At the windows under ground, The long year round; There, never the morn on her pipes of corn Maketh a cheerful sound. Oh, little white cloud of witnesses Against your parentage, May Heaven assuage The woes that wait on your dark estate, -- Unorphaned orphanage. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY MOTHER, 1930 by KAREN SWENSON THE LOVER PLEADS WITH HIS FRIENDS FOR OLD FRIENDS by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE BLACK RIDERS: 1 by STEPHEN CRANE WAR IS KIND: 21 by STEPHEN CRANE |