I did not know if stalwart courage you possessed. You gaily danced o'er paths with sun-lit petals strewn. Love's fingers, -- magic -- soft -- your trusting heart caressed, And this world bloomed for you, -- a garden bright in June. Fair fame adorned your brow; -- wealth added golden pleasure; Kind Fates brought precious gifts to you, in generous mood. You laughed in tune to sheer frivolity's light measure, -- Nor dreamed that storm clouds gather, -- swift and sombre-hued. Fame died. Wealth fled. Misfortune's grief-edged saber pressed. Your weary feet trod, bleeding, down disillusion's road. And faithless love tore out the heart from your poor breast, -- To leave a wilderness, where once Romance abode. Your heart rebounds above disaster's dead debris; No cry of cowardly defeat rose from your throat. With eyes and spirit high, -- life's master e'er to be, -- Your soul, in victory, sounds Faith's triumphant note. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TRAGEDY OF VALENTINIAN: SPRING by JOHN FLETCHER THE DESERTED LOVER CONSOLETH HIMSELF ... by THOMAS WYATT APPARITIONS by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH LARABELLE; CANTO FIRST by LEVI BISHOP RIDDLE OF GOD by PAUL SOUTHWORTH BLISS THE KING'S GIFT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |